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GEN.  THOMflS  FRflNCIS  MEAGHER, 


COM  PRISING 


The  Leading  Events  of  His  Career 


CHRONOLOGICALLY       ARRANGED,      WITH     SELECTIONS     FROM     HIS 

SPEECHES,     LECTURES     AND     MISCELLANEOUS 

WRITINGS,     INCLUDING 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

BY   MICHAEL    CAVANAGH, 

SECRETARY    TO    JOHN     O'MAHONEY,    II.    C.    FENIAN    BROTHERHOOD. 


WORCESTER,     MASS. 

THE     MESSENGER    PRESS, 

1892. 


COPYRIGHTED  1892, 
BY  MICHAEL  CAVANAGH. 


DEDICATION. 


u  Oh,   brave   young   meu,  my  love,  my  pride,  arid   promise, 

'Tis  on   you   my  hopes   are  set, 
In  manliness,   in   kindliness,   in  justice, 
To  make  Erin  a  nation   yet." 


To  THE  YOUNG  MEN  OF  THE  IRISH  EACE  who  are  devoted  to  the 
principles  of  National  Liberty  which  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER  so 
nobly  inculcated,  and  for  the  perpetuation  of  which  he  so  bravely 
fought,  I  dedicate  this  record  of  his  career,  hoping  that  therein  they 
might  find  an  incentive  and  an  inspiration  to  profit  by  his  precepts  and, 
to  the  best  of  their  ability,  to  emulate  his  example. 

MICHAEL    CAVANAGH. 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 
1892. 


M188317 


PREFACE. 
\ 

IN  undertaking  to  write  a  memoir  of  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  I  have  been 
actuated,  in  the  first  place,  by  a  desire  to  pay  a  tribute  of  affectionate  re 
spect  to  the  memory  of  an  illustrious  fellow-countryman,  a  patriot  of  whom 
I  had  been  an  enthusiastic  admirer  since  boyhood  —  and  with  whose  confidence 
I  was  honored  from  the  moment  of  our  first  personal  acquaintance,  in  1848, 
to  the  day  on  which  he  left  New  York  for  Montana  —  in  the  summer  of 
18G5. 

In  the  next  place,  I  wished  to  enable*  the  present  generation  of  young 
men  of  Irish  birth  or  blood,  to  estimate  this  gifted  scion  of  their  race  as 
their  fathers  —  his  contemporaries  —  did,  by  placing  before  them  a  record 
comprising  the  leading  events  of  his  career,  compiled  from  various  authentic 
sources  of  information  —  and  in  which  will  be  found  selections  from  his 
speeches,  lectures,  anJ.  miscellaneous  writings,  together  with  such  personal 
reminiscences  as  may  serve  to  add  somewhat  to  the  interest  of  the  book  — 
through  what  little  side-light  they  throw  upon  his  history,  and  the  glimpses 
they  revcil  of  his  genuine  Irish  nature. 

I  was,  furthermore,  influenced  to  enter  upon  this  labor  of  love  by  the 
reflection  that,  while  treating  of  the  national  movement  in  Ireland,  in  1848, 
—  in  which  undertaking  it  was  my  purport  to  make  Thomas  Francis  Meagher 
the  central  figure  —  I  could,  by  recording  my  personal  recollections  of  some 
of  Mr.  Meagher's  most  distinguished  compatriots,  and  of  current  events  — 
as  they  transpired  under  my  observation,  both  in  Dublin  and  the  South  of 
Ireland  contribute  some  interesting  facts  to  the,  hitherto,  unwritten  history 
of  that  memorable  year. 

Whether  I  have  executed  my  self-imposed  task  in  a  satisfactory  manner 
or  otherwise,  my  readers  must  decide.  I  presume  most  of  them  will  base 
their  judgment  less  upon  the  literary  merit  of  the  work  than  upon  their 
individual  predilections  regarding  its  subject.  Should  my  surmise  prove 
correct,  I'll  feel  content;  for,  though,  in  the  course  of  my  narrative,  I  have 
conscientiously  striven  to  be  truthful,  I  had  no  thought  of  being  coldly 
impartial  —  where  country  or  friend  was  the  subject  of  my  theme. 

M.  C. 


TABLE  OP  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

INTRODUCTION,       .......  5 

CHAPTER    I. 

Genealogy  of    the  O'Meaghers,         .....  9 

CHAPTER    II. 

Parentage  and  birth  of  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,    .  .  .12 

CHAPTER    III. 

Leaving  home,        .......  15 

CHAPTER    IV. 

Clongowe's   College,  ......  10 

CHAPTER    V. 

Meagher  and  Shiel  —  Old  Catholic  Leaders,  ...  24 

CHAPTER    VI. 
In  Stonyhurst   College,         ......  27 

CHAPTER    VII. 
"  1843,"      .....  32 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

1844-1845.    The  State  trials  —  Home  recreations,        .  .  36 

CHAPTER    IX. 

Death  of  Thomas  Davis.      Meagher's  entry  into  political  life,  .  46 

CHAPTER    X. 

A    change  of  base,  .  .  .  ....  51 

CHAPTER    XI. 

The  Secession,        .......  56 

CHAPTER    XII. 

Consequences  of  the   Secession,         .....  67 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

"  Speranza,''    on  Meagher,  .  .  .  ...  70 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

From   the   Secession,   to  the  formation   of   the  Irish  Confederation,     .  73 

CHAPTER    XV. 

1847.      The  Irish  Confederation.      The  famine,  ...  76 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

Duffy,   on  parliamentary  obstruction.      Mitchell  for  sterner  measures,  81 

CHAPTER    XVII. 
O'Brien's  resolutions.      Meagher's   speech,     .  ...  83 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

The  Waterford  election,   1848,  .  89 

CHAPTER    XIX. 
The  French  Revolution,       .  97 

CHAPTER    XX. 

Dublin  Voices  the  National  Sentiment,         .  .  .  .  100 


TABLE    OF  CONTENTS.  m 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

An  eventful   week  in   the   Irish  capital,         .  .  no 

CHAPTER    XXII. 

In  the  city  of  the  barricades,          .  .  .119 

CHAPTER    XXIU. 
Meagher  in  Paris,  .  .  .  123 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 

The  Dublin   club -men,    April,    1848,  129 

CHAPTER    XXV, 

Revival   of  an  old  Irish  industry,  .  .  '  .  132 

CHAPTER    XXVI. 

Three  veterans   of  ninety -eight        .  .  .  139 

CHAPTER    XXVII. 

The  treason-felony  bill,  —  O'Brien's   speech  April   10,   1848,     .  .  150 

CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

Welcome  to   Smith  O'Brien.      Meagher's  impressions  of  France,          .  160 

CHAPTER    XXIX. 

Disaffected  soldiers.     A  castle  piot  foiled,   .  .  .  165 

CHAPTER    XXX. 

By   the    Shannon  and   the  Suir,          .  .  .  .  .  .  170 

CHAPTER    XXXI. 

Arrest   of  John  Mitchel.      Smith   O'Brien's   trial,        .  .  175 

CHAPTER    XXXII. 

Through  Petticoat  lane,      .  .  180 

CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

O'Brien  and  Meagher  discharged,     .  .  184 

CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

The   test   of  manhood,  .  188 

CHAPTER    XXXV. 

The  meeting.      Scraps  of  history,  .  191 

CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

Constitutional  conspirators.  .  .  196 

CHAPTER    XXXVII. 
The  felon,  199 

CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

Mitchell's   transportation.      Meagher  vindicates   the  clubs.       .  205 

CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

Meeting  the  exigency,  June,   1848,  .  211 

CHAPTER    XL. 

Castle  tactics.      Marked  for  vengence,  .  .  216 

CHAPTER    XLI. 

Waterford  and  Cashel.      Memoir  of  Michael  Doheny.  .  223 

CHAPTER    XLIL 

The  Slievenamon  meeting,   July  16th,   1848,  236 

CHAPTER    XLIII. 

Government  and  clubs.      Habeas   Corpus  Act  suspended,  240 

CHAPTER    XLIV. 

Taking  the  field.    ....  .243 


iv  TABLE   OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    XLV. 

"  Following  the  leader,"     ......  253 

CHAPTER    XLVI. 

Extract   from  John   O'Mahouy's  personal  narrative.  .  .  265 

CHAPTER    XLVI  I. 

The  failure  and  its  alleged  causes,  ...  .  .  284 

CHAPTER    XLVJII. 

The  penalty   of  patriotism,  .  288 

CHAPTER    XLIX. 
Closing  scenes,        .......  299 

CHAPTER    L. 
Life  in  Australia,  .  .  301 

CHAPTER    LI. 

Meagher  in   America,  ......  309 

CHAPTER    LI  I. 
A  happj'  re -union,  .  314 

CHAPTER    LIII. 

Meagher's  response  to   America's  welcome,  .  .  .  31!) 

CHAPTER    LTV. 
The  citizen   soldiers  honor  the   exile,  .  .  .  323 

CHAPTER    LV. 
A  clear  field  and  no  favor,  .....  332 

CHAPTER    LVI. 

From  December,    1853,   to   April,    1861,  .  .  341 

CHAPTER    LVII. 

Prince  of   Wales   visit.      Meagher  on   Corcoran,  .  .  .  349 

CHAPTER    LV11I. 
Opening  of  the   War  for   the   Union,  ....  367 

CHAPTER    LIX. 

Departure  of  the   Sixty- ninth.         .....  373 

CHAPTURE    LX. 

Meagher's   Irish  Zouaves — reminiscences  of  Fort   Corcoran,     .  .  378 

CHAPTER    LXI. 

The  Bull-run   Campaign.      .  388 

CHAPTER    LXII. 

McManus'  funeral  —  The  welcome  home,       .  .  .  .  406 

CHAPTER    LXIII. 

Departure  of  the  Irish  Brigade.      Meagher  and   Shields,         .  .  425 

CHAPTER    LXIV. 

Meagher,  Brigadier- General.      The   Irish  Brigade  at   Fair  Oaks,  ,  432 

CHAPTER    LXV. 

Fair  Oaks  to  Malveru   Hill.      Meagher  in  New   York,  .  .    .       448 

CHAPTER    LXVI. 

Autietrim  —  Fredericksburg  —  Chaucellorville,  .  .  .  459 

CHAPTER    LXVI  I. 
Honors  to  Gen.  Meagher.     Enrolled  a  Fenian.      Meagher  in  Tennessee,  487 

Appendix. 


GENERAL  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 


IRELAND'S  SOLDIER-ORATOR. 


in  hit  beauty  and  his  youth,  the  Apostle  of  the  Truth, 
Goes  he  forth  with  the  words  of  Salvation, 

And  a  noble  n  adness  falls  on  each  spirit  he  enthralls, 
At  he  chants  his  wild  Paeans  to  the  nation."— SPERANZA. 


INTRODUCTION. 

IN  undertaking  to  write  a  memoir  of  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  I  have  been 
actuated,  in  the  first  place,  by  a  desire  to  pay  a  tribute  of  affectionate  respect  to  the 
memory  of  an  illustrious  fellow-countryman,  a  patriot  of  whom  I  had  been  an 
enthusiastic  admirer  since  boyhood,  and  with  whose  confidence  I  was  honored  from 
the  moment  of  our  first  personal  acquaintance,  in  1848,  to  the  last  year  of  his  life. 

In  the  next  place,  I  wished  to  enable  the  present  generation  of  the  young  men 
of  our  race  to  estimate  him  as  their  fathers,  his  contemporaries,  did, — by  compiling 
from  materials  collected  from  various  sources,  a  single  work,  comprising  the 
leading  events  of  his  career, — and  in  which  will  be  found  selections  from  his 
speeches,  lectures,  and  miscellaneous  writings,  together  with  such  personal  remin 
iscences  as  may  serve  to  add  to  the  interest  of  the  work  through  the  little  additional 
light  they  throw  upon  his  history,  and  the  glimpses  they  reveal  of  his  genuine  Irish 
nature. 

In  preparing  the  memoir,  I  have  tried  to  arrange  its  component  parts  in  chron 
ological  order,  including  the  dates  of  the  speeches,  &c.  I  find  it  expedient  to 
diverge  from  this  plan  in  the  single  instance  relating  to  my  first  personal  interview 
with  Mr.  Meagher,  and  I  therefore  insert  it  here  in  preference  to  introducing  it  into 
the  body  of  the  work. 

The  occurrence  took  place  in  the  meeting-room  of  the  "  Swift  Confederate 
Club,"  in  Queen  street,  Dublin,  on  March  28th,  1848. 


6  MEMOIES  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

At  the  previous  weekly  meeting  of  the  club,  my  name  and  that  of  my  cousin 
and  fellow  towns-boy,  Dan.  Magrath,  had  been  proposed  for  membership  by  an  eld 
acquaintance  of  Dan's,  and  a  most  prominent  club-man,  "  Bob  Ward,''  and  we 
attended  on  this  occasion  to  be  initiated.  "While  waiting  to  have  our  names  called, 
we  took  seats  on  a  bench  at  one  side  of  the  room.  In  a  few  minutes  thereafter,  the 
President  of  the  Club,  Richard  O'Gorman,  Jr.,  (now  the  Hon.  Judge  O'Gorman  of 
New  York,)  entered  the  room,  accompanied  by  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  and 
while  the  former  gentleman  proceeded  to  take  the  chair,  preparatory  to  transacting 
the  business  of  the  evening,  Mr.  Meagher  seated  himself  beside  me  on  the  bench.  I 
had  seen  him,  for  the  first  time,  a  week  previously,  at  the  great  open-air  meeting 
held  near  the  North  Wall,  Dublin,  for  the  purpose  of  adopting  a  "  Congratulatory 
Address  from  the  Trades  and  Citizens  of  Dublin  to  the  Citizens  of  the  French 
Republic,"  so  his  person  was  known  to  me  by  sight.  It  so  happened  that  the 
Secretary  of  the  Club  had  entered  my  name  on  the  book  as  "  John,"  and  as  such  it 
was  read  to  the  meeting,  with  my  comrade's,  previous  to  taking  the  vote  on  our 
admission.  Whereupon  our  proposer,  Bob  Ward,  exclaimed  that  "  Michael,"  not 
"  John,"  was  the  Cappoquin  boy's  name,  and  called  on  me  to  confirm  his  statement 
— which  I  did.  Meagher  appeared  interested  on  hearing  Cappoquin  mentioned,  and 
when  he  found  't  was  my  name  was  referred  to  in  connection  therewith,  he  turned 
to  me  and,  extending  his  hand,  said  :— 

"  So  you  are  from  Cappoquin !  " 

I  replied  in  the  affirmative  for  self  and  comrade,  and  introduced  Dan.  to  Mr. 
Meagher. 

He  then  asked :  "  What  brought  ye  to  Dublin?" 

I  told  him  that,  a  month  previously,  we  had  made  arrangements  to  go  to 
America — (by  way  of  Dublin — as  we  wanted  to  see  our  Nation's  Capital  before 
leaving  it— perhaps  for  ever)  ;  but  that  the  news  of  the  French  Revolution  caused 
us  to  change  our  plan,  and  we  decided  to  go  to  Dublin — and  stay  there  to  take  a  hand 
in  the  game — when  the  "  ball  was  up  I '» 

He  approved  of  our  resolution — and  I  remarked  :— 

"  So  you're  going  to  Paris,  Mr.  Meagher?  " 

'•  Yes ! "  he  replied,  "  we  leave  to-morrow !  " 

"  I  hope  you'll  be  as  successful  there  as  Wolfe  Tone  was,"  I  remarked. 

"  It  won't  be  my  fault  if  we  don't,  my  boy,"  was  the  earnest  response. 

At  this  time  the  routine  business  of  the  night  was  transacted,  and  Mr.  Meagher 
was  called  on  to  address  the  Club,  so  our  first  interview  terminated.  After  a' brief 
address  he  retired  with  Mr.  O'Gorman,  as  both  gentlemen  had  to  visit  other  clubs 
the  same  evening.  I  had  another  cordial  shake-hands  before  he  left,  as  I  wished 
him  "  God  speed  and  safe  return ! " 

From  that  night  until  our  last  shake-hands,  on  the  day  he  left  New  York  for 


INTRODUCTION. 


Montana,  in  1865,  our  relations  continued  to  be  most  cordial,  and,  in  all  that 
concerned  Ireland,  our  intercourse  was  as  unrestricted  and  unconventional  as  at  our 
first  interview  on  that  memorable  night  in  '48. 

Would  that  it  were  his  dear  friend  and  companion  on  that  eventful  day  who 
had  undertaken  the  "  labor  of  love "  that  I,  in  attempting  this  memoir,  have 
assumed.  He  alone,  of  all  living  men,  could  do  the  subject  adequate  justice ;  for,  in 
both  hemispheres,  they  stood  in  closest  relationship  to  each  other  personally  and 
politically  of  all  their  youthful  compatriots,  and  no  two  could  more  closely 
resemble  one  another  in  generous  impulses,  warmth  of  heart,  affability  of  manner, 
and  that  rare  gift  fof  heaven-inspired  eloquence  which  won  them  the  innermost  place 
in  the  hearts  of  sympathetic  audiences  at  either  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

On  the  evening  of  the  day  on  whichlthe  obsequies  of  General  Meagher  were 
celebrated  in  the  Church  of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  Xew  York,  Richard  O'Gorman,  in 
the  Cooper  Institute,  paid  his  tribute  of  affection  to  the  memory  of  his  departed 
friend  in  one  of  the  grandest  and  most  pathetic  funeral  orations  ever  delivered.  It 
will  be  found  in  its  appropriate  place  in  this  work,  whereby,  as  my  humble  votive 
offering,  I  place  a  stone  ou  the  Hero's  "  Memorial  Cairn  J " 

11.  C. 


GENEALOGY  OF  THE  O'MEAGHERS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

GENEALOGY   OF  THE  O'MEAGHERS 

"  Powerfully  have  they  peopled  their  land, 
The  O'Meaghers  of  the  land  of  Ui   Carin, 
The  tribe  who  dwell  at  Bearnan  Ell. 
It  Is  right  to  extol  their  fame-"— O'HEERIN. 

But  few  Irish  families  of  the  present  day  can  claim  a  nobler  origin,  or  trace 
their  descent  through  a  longer,  continuous  line  of  hereditary  chieftains  than  the 
O'Meaghers  of  Ikerrin,  county  of  Tipperary.  For  fifty  generations,  extending 
through  fifteen  centuries,  a  chief  of  the  race  ruled  their  ancestral  tribeland  of  Crich- 
Ui-Cairin,  (Kreeh-ee-Karrin,)  i.  e.  O'Cariu's  territory,  the  country  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  celebrated  '•'•Bearnan  Eli,"  (Gap,  or  Pass  of  Eli,)  now  vulgarly 
known  as  the  "Devil's  Bit  Mountain." 

This  ancient  race  derive  their  descent  from  Kian,  the  third  son  of  Olild  Olum, 
who  was  the  first  king  of  the  line  of  Eber,  who  is  named  in  the  "  Eeim  Eighraidhe," 
("Royal  Roll,")  as  having  ruled  the  two  provinces,  or  pentarchates  of  Munster. 
Olild  Olum  was  a  contemporary  of  Art  Aeinfer,  son  of  "  Con  of  the  Hundred 
Battles,  and  Monarch  of  Ireland  in  the  middle  of  the  second  century  of  the  Christian 
era. 

Olild  reigned  King  of  Muuster  for  sixty  years.  He  had  hi  all  nineteen  sons, 
nine  of  whom  were  by  his  wife  Sadb,  (Soive,)  daughter  of  "Con  of  the  Hundred 
Battles."  Of  these  nine,  seven  were  killed  in  one  battle,  that  of  Magh  Mocrumhi, 
(Moy  Mockriovie,)  among  them  his  eldest  son  Eogan,  from  whose  sou,  Fiacaidh 
Mul-Lathan,  sprang  the  races  of  MacCarthy,  O'Callaghau,  O'Keefe  and  O'Sul- 
livan,  with  their  kindred  branches.  From  Cormac  Gas,  and  Kian,  the  two  of 
Olild's  sons  that  returned  from  the  battle  of  Magh  Mvcrumhi,  are  descended  the 
following  septs :  From  Cormac  Cas,  Olild's  second  son  who  left  a  progeny  after 
him,  are  descended  the  Dal  g-Cais,  (Daul-gash,)  of  which  tribe  the  O'Briens  were 
the  principal  family;  the  Siol  Achda,  (Sheel  Aye,)  that  is  the  clan  of  SfacConmara, 
(MacXamara,)  and  the  Siol  g-Clannchadha,  (Sheel-Glanghuee,)  (MacClanchy). 

From  Kian,  the  third  sou  of  Olild  Olum,  who  left  a  progeny  after  him,  have 
sprung  the  clans  of  O'Kerbhail,  (i.  e.  O'Carroll,)  O'Meachair,  (i.  e.  O'Meagher,) 
O'h-Eadhra,  (i.  e.  O'Hara,)  O'Ghadhra,  (i.  e.  O'Gara  or  Giurg,)  O'Cathasaigh,  (i.  e. 
O'Casey,)  and  0' Conchobhair  rf  Kiannacht,  (i.  e.  O'Connor  of  Keeuaght  in  Ulster). 

From  the  foregoing:  it  will  be  seen  that  Olild  Olum  was  the  founder  of  the 


10  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAQHER. 

Eberian  sway  in  Munster,  and  from  him  sprung  all  the  clans  that,  thenceforth, 
were  able  to  lay  claim  to  its  sovereignty.  He  must  have  been  both  a  great  and  an 
able  prince,  to  have  established  the  supremacy  of  his  race  upon  such  solid  founda 
tions  in  times  of  such  extreme  convulsion ;  for  his  dynasty  continued  to  rule  the 
south  of  Ireland  in  spite  of  intestine  and  external  wars,  from  his  own  time  down  to 
the  English  invasion. 

It  was,  however,  to  the  descendants  of  Eogan,  and  Cormac  Cas,  that  Olild 
Olum  bequeathed  the  alternate  sovereignty  of  Munster,  and  in  them  it  was  vested 
while  Ireland  continued  independent.  To  Kian  he  left  the  territory  of  Oir  Mumha, 
signifying  East  Munster,  which  bordered  on  Leinster  and  Meath,  under  the 
supremacy  of  the  Kings  of  Munster.  Ancient  Ormond  extended  from  Gabhran, 
(now  Gowran,)  inthe  county  of  Kilkenny,  westward  to  Cramhchoill,  (now  Cleghill) 
near  the  town  of  Tipperary ;  its  breadth  was  from  Bearnan  Eli,  (now  Barnane,  on 
the  Devil's  Bit  Mountain,)  to  O'Bric's  Island,  (near  Bunmahon  on  the  coast 
of  Waterford).  The  territory  of  Eli,  situated  in  the  north-east  of  Ormond,  got  its 
name  from  Eli  Righ  derg,  (the  "Red-armed,")  (eighth  in  descent  from  Kian,)  one 
of  its  kings  in  the  fifth  century.  It  subsequently  became  known  as  Eli  O'Carroll, 
from  its  being  possessed  by  the  O'Carrolls,  who  derive  their  name  from  Cearbhall, 
(Carroll,)  seventeenth  in  direct  descent  from  the  before  mentioned  Eli  Righ-derg. 
This  Cearbhall  commanded  his  own  tribe  (the  Eli,)  under  Brian  Boru,  at  the  battle 
of  Clontarf,  in  1014. 

The  teritory  of  Eli  comprised  the  present  baronies  of  Eli  O'Carroll,  Ballybritt, 
and  Clonlisk,  in  the  King's  County,  and  those  of  Ikerrin  and  Elyogarthy  in  the 
county  of  Tipperary.  The  Elians  from  their  frontier  location,  bore  a  very  impor 
tant  part  in  all  the  wars  for  supremacy  between  the  Heremonians  and  Heberians, 
respectively  the  dominant  races  of  the  North  and  South  of  Ireland. 

The  O'Meaghers  were, — next  to  their  kinsmen  the  O'Carrolls,  the  most  distin 
guished  sept  of  the  Elian  tribe ;  their  founder,  Meachair,  being  the  son  of  Tadh,  the 
great-grand-son  of  Kian,  the  founder  of  all  the  tribes  of  the  Kiannachta.  They 
were  the  ruling  clan  of  the  territory  of  Ui  Cairiu — the  present  barony  of 
Ikerrin, — under  the  supremacy  of  the  Princes  of  Eli  for  nearly  a  thousand  years ; 
but,  after  the  Anglo-Norman  invasion,  that  part  of  the  tribeland  which  lies  in  the 
county  of  Tipperary  was  detached  from  O'Carroll's  supremacy  and  added  to 
the  earldom  of  "Ormond,"  but  the  native  dynasts,  O'Meagher  of  Ikerrin,  and 
O'Fogarty  of  Elyogarthy,  were  allowed  to  remain  hi  undisturbed  possession 
as  feudatories  to  the  Norman  Butlers,  earls  of  Ormond,  down  to  the  end  of 
the  seventeenth  century. 

That  the  clan  Meagher  maintained  the  fiery,  unconquerable  spirit  of  their 
fighting  race,  even  in  the  period  of  Ireland's  deepest  gloom,  is  evident  by  the 
promptness  with  which  they  resented  the  insults  of  Aenghus  O'Daly  the  satirist, 


GEXEA LOO  Y  OF  THE  O'MEA GHEES.  1  \ 

who,  in  Elizabeth's  time  was  hired  by  Sir  George  Carew,  President  of  Munster,  to 
lampoon  the  native  Irish  chiefs.  And  right  well  the  rascal  earned  his  pay,  for  the 
flood  of  contumely  he  poured  forth  on  the  subjects  of  his  villificatiou  was  never 
surpassed  hi  bitterness  of  blackguardism. 

The  devil-inspired  rhymer  at  last  met  a  reward  he  had  not  bargained  for.  His 
evil  genius  led  him  to  the  house  of  O'Meagher  of  Ikerrin  at  a  time  when  the 
retainers  of  the  chieftain  were  seated  at  supper  in  the  ample  kitchen.  It  seems 
that,  at  first,  the  owner  of  the  mansion  took  no  notice  of  the  unwelcome  intruder, 
whose  person  and  occupation  were  well  known  through  the  country ;  when,  Irritated 
at  his  indifferent  reception,  the  saucy  bard  forgot  his  accustomed  prudence,  and — 
"  halloed  before  he  got  out  of  the  woods ! "  In  other  words,  he  gave  vent  to 
his  ribald  proclivities  on  the  spot,  in  the  Irish  stanza  of  which  the  following  is  an 
English  equivalent. 

"  O'Meagher's  men  feasted  around  a  great  fire,— 

A  huge  pot  hung  o'er  it,— with  blackberries  sUwlng: 
'T  were  hard  to  iay  which  it  was — "kitchen "'or  "byre"— 
Where  Meagher's  old  cow  littered  near  his  "  home-brewlif ." 

Incensed  at  this  reflection  on  his  chieftain,  a  retainer  of  O'Meagher's  sprang 
up  from  the  table,  and,  with  the  exclamation  that  "the  'Red  Bard'  should  never 
satirize  an  O'Meagher  because  he  did  not  at  once  recognize  him,"  he  made  a  thrust 
of  the  sharp  scian  he  held  in  his  ready  right  hand  into  Aenghus's  neck,  so  that  he 
began  to  throw  up  his  heart's  blood  on  the  spot.  But  before  the  old  sinner  died  he 
ssld: — 

"  I  freely  recall  all  the  judgments  unjust 

I  passed  on  the  chieftains  of  Munster,  through  ipite: 

Grey  Meagher's  fierce    henchman,  with  rapid  knife  thrust, 
His  judgment  dealt  on  me  — and  served  me  just  right." 

The  O'Meaghers  of  Ikerrin  finally  experienced  the  fate  of  many  another  loyal 
Irish  sept,  and  lost  the  remnant  of  their  inheritance  through  the  part  they  played 
in  the  Cromwellian  and  Williamite  wars.  They  are  still  a  numerous  race  in  their 
native  territory,  but  most  of  them  are  tillers  of  the  soil  their  ancestors  ruled  over 
for  ages.  A  few  of  the  name  are  among  the  landed  gentry  of  Tipperary.  One  of 
the*e,  the  late  Nicholas  Maher,  of  Turtulla,  near  Thurles,  was  Member  of  Parlia 
ment  for  his  native  county  about  fifty  years  ago ;  but  he  was  not  particularly 
distinguished  for  either  patriotism  or  ability,  and,  in  this  respect,  was  an  average 
specimen  of  his  class, — the  Catholic  lauded  gentry  who  were  brought  into  political 
prominence  through  the  Emancipation  Act,  at  the  sacrifice  of  thousands  of  their 
humble  but  devoted  and  unselfish  co-religionists — the  "rank  and  file"  of  the  Liber- 


12  MEMU111S  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FBANGIB  MEAGHEE. 

ating  Army — men   who,    with  the   uncontamiuated  blood,   inherited  the  noblest 
attributes   of  their   brave   old  race. 

On  such  men  must  ever  depend  the  destinies  of  their  Nation.  For,  ever  since 
the  time  when  the  Celtic  Chieftains  degenerated  into  the  Saxouized  Landlords, ;and 
the  free  clansmen— joint-owners  of  their  ancestral  tribe-lands — became  the  treach 
erous  leaders'  tenants-at-will,  seldom,  indeed,  has  the  temporizing  class  contributed 
a  prominent  man  to  the  cause  of  their  country's  nationality,  and  well  it  is  for  that 
cause  that  its  success  is  not  dependent  on  their  aid.  For — "  Blood  will  Tell!" 


CHAPTER  II. 

PARENTAGE  AND  BIRTH   OF  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER.— HIS 

EARLY  BOYHOOD. 

IN  the  latter  half  of  the  last  century,  a  flourishing  trade  had  sprung  up 
between  Ireland  and  Newfoundland.  The  latter  Island  was,  for  the  most  part 
colonized  by  emigrants  from  the"  former,  such  emigrants  being  principally  from 
the  maritime  counties.  But,  in  addition  to  those  permanent  settlers,  there  was  a 
constant  stream  of  transitory  adventurers  crossing  the  ocean  between  the  two 
islands.  These  generally  remained  but  a  season  or  two  working  at  the  fisheries, 
and  then  returned  to  their  native  land  with  their  hard-won  savings,  much  as 
their  countrymen  who  periodically  visit  England  during  the  harvest  season,  do 
in  our  own  days.  Among  the  most  flourishing  of  the  merchants  and  traders  of  St. 
John's  and  Harbour-Grace,—  in  which  places  nearly  all  the  commerce  of  the  island 
was  then  centred  —  the  natives  of  the  city  of  Waterford  and  the  neighboring  town 
of  New-Ross  predominated— for  these  twin-ports  were  the  Irish  entrepots  of 
nearly  all  the  trade  between  the  two  countries  at  the  time.  There  were,  however, 
many  successful  and  enterprising  colonists  from  other  parts  of  Ireland.  Promi 
nent  among  these  was  a  Tipperary  man  named  Meagher,  one  of  the  old  stock  of  the 
O'Meaghers  of  Ui  Cairm.  He  had  been  a  farmer  in  his  native  country  in  early 
manhood,  but  preferred  seeking  his  fortune  in  another  and  more  independent 
sphere.  He  emigrated  to  Newfoundland,  and  became  in  turn  a  trader,  a  merchant 
and  a  ship-owner.  He  carried  on  a  prosperous  commerce  between  St.  John's  and 
Waterford  city,  where  he  eventually  established  his  eldest  son,  Thomas,  to  repre 
sent  his  interest. 


PA KEXTA GE  AND  SIR TH.  —  EARL Y  BO YHO OD.  13 

The  young  man  soon  became  one  of  the  most  prosperous  and  esteemed 
merchants  in  Waterford.  In  course  of  time  he  married  a  daughter  of  a  Mr.  Quan, 
one  of  the  partners  in  the  flourishing  lirm  of  "  Wyse,  Cushin  and  Quail."  Quan, 
or,  as  it  is  called  in  Irish.  O'(7ai«,  is  the  name  of  an  old  Irish  sept  of  the  Desi  tribe 
which  had  taken  deep  root  and  still  flourishes  in  its  native  district. 

The  marriage  of  Thomas  Meagher  and  Miss  Quan  took  place  in  the  private 
residence  of  the  bride's  family,  situated  on  the  Quay  of  Waterford.  The  building 
was  afterwards  known  as  the  "  Commiu's  Hotel/'  The  young  couple  continued  to 
reside  there  for  some  time,  and  it  was  in  that  house  that  their  first  child,  THOMAS 
FRANCIS  3IEAGHEB,  was  born  on  the  23th  of  August,  1823. 

Thus  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  boy's  first  glance  at  the  outer  world  lighted  on 
the  estuary  of  the  noble  river  whose  fountain-springs  are  situated  in  the  ancestral 
patrimony  of  his  father's  race.  Well  might  he  love,  and  pride  in,  his  native  river 
and  the  storied  land  through  which  it  flows, —  for,  within  the  length  and  breadth 
of  "  Green  Erin  of  the  Streams !  "  both  river  and  land  are  unsurpassed  for  natural 
beauty ;  and  no  braver  or  better  men  tread  the  Irish  soil  than  the  high-spirited  race 
whose  national  aspirations  are  strengthened  and  intensified  by  the  coutemplati*  n 
o"  their  God-given  heritage,  and  the  glorious  historical  associations  with  which  it  is 
mdissolubly  connected. 

On  the  other  hand,  well  may  the  country  and  its  people  be  proud  of  him.  His 
native  city  has  given  birth  to  many  illustrious  sous,  patriots,  scholars,  soldiers 
and  statesmen,  but  never  to  one,  who  at  his  age,  so  won  the  love  and  admiration 
of  his  compatriots  at  home ;  for  his  patriotism,  courage,  genius  and  self-sacrifice ; 
or  who,  in  his  maturer  years,  more  nobly  maintained  the  gallantry  of  his  ancient 
race  with  voice,  and  pen,  and  sword  —  in  the  forum,  press,  and  field. 

The  "  Soldier-Orator  "  always  prided  in  his  being  thoroughly  Irish  at  both 
sides.  And  surely,  the  scion  of  a  stock  that  kept  possession  of  their  ancient  patri 
mony  against  all  comers  for  fifteen  hundred  years,  may  well  glory  in  his  affiliation 
with  such  a  race  of  heroes.  There  are  gallant  soldiers  and  pure  patriots  of  his 
name  and  race  living  to-day,  both  here  and  in  their  father's  land ;  many  of  them 
deeply  imbued  with  the  memories  of  the  Kiannachta's  ancestral  glories,  and  some 
who  have,  in  Freedom's  cause,  maintained  their  ancestral  valor  in  the  "  Searna 
Baoghal "  as  bravely  as  any  Meagher  that  ever  confronted  foe  in  "  Bearnan  Eli," 
but  I  venture  to  say  in  their  behalf  that,  they  glory  more  in  the  name  and  fame  of 
the  young  leader  of  the  Irish  Brigade,  than  in  that  of  any  other  hero  of  their 
fighting  stock  —  not  excepting  Kian  at  Magh  Macrumhi,  or  his  namesake  at 
Clontarf. 

In  early  childhood  Thomas  Francis  Meagher  experienced  the  first  and  greatest 
misfortune  of  his  life,  in  the  death  of  his  mother.  What  influence  the  loss  had 
upon  his  future  destiny  't  were  hard  to  tell ;  but  to  a  nature  so  loving  and  suscep- 


14  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER, 

tible  as  his,  the  desire  to  contribute  to  the  happiness  of  a  fond  mother,  must,  in  a 
great  degree,  tend  to  direct  the  current  of  his  thoughts  and  control  his  actions,  so 
as  to  merit  her  approbation  and  stimulate  her  maternal  pride. 

The  boy's  irreparable  loss  was,  however,  mitigated  by  the  affectionate  care  of 
his  mothei's  maiden  sister,  Miss  Quan,  who  devoted  her  life  to  his  care  and  that  of 
his  younger  brother,  Henry,  and  who,  in  after  years,  was  destined  by  Providence 
to  exercise  the  same  devoted  care  over  her  exiled  nephew's  motherless  boy. 

The  first  ten  years  of  Meagher's  life  were  passed  in  his  native  city;  then  he 
received  his  rudimentary  education,  and,  in  his  boyish  excursions  through  the 
beautiful  country  in  its  vicinity  imbibed  the  enthusiastic  admiration  for  the  scenes 
of  his  childhood  which  all  the  vicissitudes  of  after  years  could  not  obliterate  from 
h  <  heart,  or  his  memory.  Nurtured  amid  such  surroundings,  his  youthful  imagin- 
tion  inspired  by  the  historical  associations  of  mountain,  valley,  stream,  and  city, 
and  his  mind  filled  with  legends  of  sequestered  "  Cromleac  "  or  hill-seated  "  CaiVn," 
his  full-blooded  Irish  nature  was  enabled  to  resist  successfully  the  debilitating  influ 
ences  of  his  college  education, —  which,  while  it  succeeded  in  changing  his  native 
Munster  accent  could  never  hamper  the  Irish  intellect  which  found  expression 
through  the  scholastic  idiom  of  his  fiery  tongue. 

There  was  one  spot,  situated  within  less  than  a  mile  of  the  house  in  which 
Meagher  was  born, —  but  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  noble  Suir  —  where  he, 
in  common  with  all  "  Waterford  boys,"  then  and  since,  loved  to  seat  himself,  and 
enjoy  a  panorama  which  for  beauty  and  diversity  of  scenery  is  unequalled  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  any  other  Irish  city.  That  favorite  trysting-place  some 
unfortunate  but  ambitious  egotist  —  aspiring  to  perpetuate  his  chronic  attribute, 
had,  in  a  devil-inspired  moment,  denominated  "Mount  Misery!"  A  misnomer 
which  could  only  emanate  from  the  "  Father  of  Lies." 

Listen  to  the  description  which, —  in  recalling  it  to  his  exiled  friend's  recollec 
tion —  one  of,  Meagher's  youthful  playmates,  Thomas  W.  Condon  —  the  "Poet- 
Smith  "  —  gives  of  their  old  observatory :  — 

"Come,  then,  old  friend,  let  us  ascend  'Mount  Misery.' 'Mount  Mis 
ery!'  Was  ever  so  great  a  misnomer?  That  beautiful  spot,  from  which  the 
eye  collects  into  one  vast  picture  such  everlasting  scenes  of  loveliness  and 
peace.  Far  away  to  the  west  winds  the  beautiful  Suir,  circling  like  a  band  of 
silver  the  '  Golden  Vale  of  Munster,'  and  looking  down  on  which,  in  the 
blue  distance,  the  grey  giant  of  the  Commeraghs  is  seen,  with  the  clouds  of  heaven 
for  his  crown,  and  the  turreted  summit  of  Clonegam  for  his  foot-stool.  '  Mount 
Misery ! '  Town  and  tower,  dark  groves  and  distant  spires,  rich  meadows  and  ripe 
corn-fields  surround  thee  on  every  side.  Seated  on  thy  bald  brow,  of  a  summer 
evening,  with  the  red  sun  setting  like  a  globe  of  gold  over  Slivenamou,  and  the 
quiet  moon  rising;,  like  a  vestal  with  her  silver  lamp,  over  Cromwell's  Fort,  the 


LEAVING  HOME.  15 


music  of  the  vesper-trush  echoing  through  the  groves  of  Belmont  or  Newpark,  and 
the  mild  cuckoo  speaking  her  summer  note  from  the  distant  woods  of  Kilaspy,  — 
miserable  must  the  man  be,  indeed,  who,  gazing  on  those  charming  scenes, 
listening  to  that  soft  music,  and  feeling  the  calm  grey  mantle  of  evening  stealing 
its  quiet  robe  round  the  mild  form  of  nature,  would  not  kneel  on  that  rugged  peak 
as  if  on  Mount  Tabor,  and  drinking  the  joy  and  peace  by  which  he  is  surrounded, 
feel  the  chain  of  sorrow  drop  from  his  heart,  the  cloud  of  care  fly  from  his  brow, 
and  forgetting  earth,  imagine  the  scenes  by  which  he  is  surrounded  to  be  visions  of 
celestial  bliss,  and  the  glory  and  grandeur  of  a  heavenly  world." 

What  Waterford  man  can  read  that  description  and  not  feel  his  heart  swell  and 
his  eyes  swim  under  the  influence  of  the  memories  it  evokes  ?  What  home-loving 
:rishman  can  read  it,  and  fail  to  understand  the  influence  of  such  a  spot  on  the 
fervid  soul  of  the  youthful  patriot  ? 


CHAPTER    III. 

LEAVING  HOME. 

••GOD  bless  you,  dear  old  Waterford,  hard  by  th«  silvery  Snlrl 
G»d  bless  your  hills  and   sweeping  vales,  your  balmy  air  so  port; 
And  may  He  prosper  every  home  that  studs  your  fertile  plains, 
But  the  hill  of  Ballybrlcken  most,  for  It's  there  my  heart  remains." 

JOHN  WALSH. 

FROM  the  banks  of  the  noble,  ship-studded  Suir ;  from  jovial,  bustling  Bally- 
bricken  —  stronghold  of  the  "  Urbs  Intacta' s"  Democracy;  from  "St.  Mary's 
Island,"  and  "  Cromwell's  Rock ; "  from  the  familiar  crest  of  "  Mount  Misery," 
the  eloud-piercing  summits  of  the  grouped  Commeraghs,  and  the  lovely,  ma 
jestic  Slieve-na-mon ;  from  Nature  in  all  her  various  forms  and  embellish 
ments —  sublimely  savage  or  wildly  picturesque;  from  a  home  where  he  was 
idolized ;  from  the  playmates  of  his  childhood,  his  school-fellows,  and  neighbors, 
the  sturdy-limbed,  fond-hearted  "Tom.  Meagher"  found  himself  parting  one  fine 
morning,  in  his  eleventh  year.  It  was  his  first  leave-taking  of  all  he  loved  on 
earth,  and  he  felt  it  keenly  as  all  affectionately,  impressionable  natures  feel  such 
trials.  A  short  time  previously,  he  had  witnessed  the  departure  of  an  emigrant- 


16  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

ship  from  Waterford  quay,  and  the  harrowing  scene  left  its  impression  on  his 
susceptible  heart  to  the  last  year  of  his  life  — eventful  of  thrilling  experiences  as 
that  life  had  been. 

More  than  thirty  years  afterwards,  in  an  address  delivered  before  the  Irish 
Immigration  Society  of  St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  of  which  the  present  illustrious  Arch 
bishop  Ireland  was  President,  General  Meagher  commenced  by  thus  referring  to 
this  memory  of  his  childhood :  — 

"  Ladies  and  gentlemen :  There  was  one  scene  I  witnessed  in  the  morning  of 
my  boyhood  which  left  upon  my  memory  an  impression  that  can  never  be  effaced. 
That  scene  was  the  departure  of  an  emigrant-ship  from  the  quay  of  my  native  city 
of  Waterford.  It  was  a  tranquil  evening  in  the  month  of  June.  The  broad  river 
Suir  flowed  past  the  aged  city  with  a  gentle  grandeur,  and  in  the  soft  light  of  the 
declining  day  seemed  as  if  it  throbbed  heavily  in  sympathy  with  the  sorrows,  the 
memories,  and  the  hopes  it  was  about  to  bear  away  upon  its  bosom  to  a  distant 
shore.  The  city  itself,  with  its  eight  centuries  of  troubled  life  chronicled  in 
weeds  and  mouldering  characters  upon  its  walls,  ever  wearing  a  care-worn  and 
clouded  look,  had,  it  appeared  to  me,  a  lonelier  and  gloomier  aspect  than  usual,  the 
hills  that  faced  it  throwing  a  deeper  shadow  over  it  than  "  Mount  Misery  '*  or 
"  Cromwell's  Rock  "  appeared  to  me  to  do  at  any  time  before.  Now  and  then  the 
stroke  of  a  bell,  beating  through  the  dull  air  from  some  church  or  workshop,  and 
closing  solemnly  the  labors  and  vexations  of  the  day,  vocalized  the  scene  with  its 
mournful  vibrations,  and  made  it  sadder  still.  On  the  deck  of  the  ship  were 
huddled  hundreds  of  men,  women  and  children  —  the  sons  and  daughters  of 
Innisfail  —  sorrow-stricken,  and  yet  hopeful  and  heroic  fugitives  from  the  island 
that  gave  them  birth.  Sorrow-stricken,  for  an  inexorable  decree,  of  which  poverty, 
injustice,  the  tyrannies  of  an  agrarian  absolutism  were  the  ministers,  compelled 
them  to  surrender  the  land  of  their  love  and  pride,  the  hallowed  earth  in  which 
their  fathers  and  other  dear  ones  slept  with  the  silent  angels  of  the  grave, 
the  ruined  nation  to  which  their  treasured  traditions,  their  immemorial  songs,  their 
inherited  wrongs  and  miseries,  their  darkest  memories  of  persecution,  lost  battles 
for  freedom,  and  the  martyrdom  of  their  chiefs,  with  an  intense  devotion  bound 
them. 

"  Hopeful,  though  sorrow-stricken,  for  the  summer  sun,  burning  in  its  varied 
splendor  on  the  western  horizon,  had  often  told  them  that  the  glory,  departing 
from  them,  was  lighting  up,  away  beyond  those  wastes  of  intervening  ocean,  a 
land  of  promise,  in  which,  under  the  government  of  a  free  and  all-powerful  people, 
their  broken  fortunes  would  be  repaired,  and  the  happiness  and  honor,  the  protec 
tion,  encouragement  and  liberty  denied  them  at  home,  would,  to  the  fullest  measure 
of  their  industry,  be  secured  them  for  life.  Heroic,  as  well  as  hopeful,  were  those 
wounded  hearts,  for  the  strong  resolve  to  conquer,  in  a  new  field,  the  dark  fate  that 


PARENTAGE  AND  BIRTH  —  EARLY  BOYHOOD.  17 

overwhelmed  them  in  the  old,  had  the  mastery  of  the  hour,  and  the  tears  that  would 
otherwise  have  been  black  as  the  rain  of  the  blackest  winter  night,  sparkled 
with  the  thoughts  and  visions  which  the  assurances  of  victory  in  America  inspired. 

"  Young  as  I  was,  I  deeply  shared  in  the  prevailing  mournfulness  of  the  scene; 
for,  young  as  I  was,  I  had  heard  enough  of  the  cruelty  that  had,  for  years  and 
years,  been  done  to  Ireland,  to  know  that  her  people  were  leaving  her,  not  from 
choice,  but  from  compulsion ;  that  it  was  not  the  sterility  of  the  soil,  or  any  other 
unfavorable  dispensation  of  nature,  but  the  malignant  hostility  of  laws  and 
practices,  devised  and  enforced  for  the  political  subjugation  of  the  country,  which 
compelled  them  to  leave." 

The  foregoing  extract  suffices  to  show,  that,  before  the  narrator  ever  left  his 
paternal  home,  the  foundation  of  his  patriotic  education  had  been  deeply  laid,  and, 
also,  that  the  lessons  then  learned  were  sacredly  treasured  by  a  loving  heart  and 
most  retentive  memory. 

CLOXGOWES. 

The  new  home  in  which  Meagher  was  destined  to  abide  for  the  ensuing  six 
years,  was  the  Jesuit's  College  of  Clongowes-Wood,  situated  on  the  fertile  plain  of 
Kildare. 

Before  he  reached  it,  his  natually  buoyant  spirits  had  recovered  their  wonted 
elasticity.  The  variety  of  scenery  through  which  he  passed  interested  him,  — for 
even  then  he  had  an  eye  keenly  observant  of  the  beauties  of  Nature,  and  when  he 
at  length  arrived  at  his  destination  and  longed  for  a  rest,  his  wish  was  gratified  in 
the  contemplation  of  a  landscape  soothing  in  its  tendency,  serenely  placid,  rich, 
inert,  contented-looking  and  dreamy. 

In  after  years,  he  described  the  place  as  it  then  impressed  him,  and  gave  some 
interesting  incidents  of  its  history  previous  to  its  occupation  by  the  Jesuits.  The 
college-building  he  described  as  follows :  — 

"There  it  was — a  solid  square  of  grand  dimensions  finished  off  with  light 
angular  towers  on  the  west  front,  and  with  great  round  towers  on  the  east, 
standing  out  boldly  from  the  beautiful  woods  which  form  a  lofty  rampart 
round  it. 

"  Architecturally  considered,  it  is  a  curious  compound.  There  are  Gothic  win 
dows  over  the  main  door-way,  and  Norman  towers  to  the  right  and  left  of  that. 
The  front,  looking  out  on  the  play-ground  and  the  Dublin  mountains,  is  illuminated 
with  windows  of  the  Elizabethan  era,  and  connects  the  round  towers  we  have  men 
tioned.  What  era  or  order  of  architecture  they  belong  to,  it  would  be  perplexing 
to  determine. 

"  In  this  massive  square  of  masonry,  the  private  rooms  of  the  Jesuits,  their 
refectory,  library,  chapel,  and  the  museum  are  situated, —  some  sleep  in  the  towers. 


18  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGBEB. 

The  F  -Provincial,  for  instance,  occupies  during  his  visits  to  the  college,  a 
large  c.iamber  in  the  square  tower,  on  the  right  of  the  principal  entrance.  From 
the  spacious  window  of  this  chamber,  he  looks  down  the  full  length  of  the  noble 
avenue  of  beech-trees,  nearly  half  a  mile  in  length,  which  in  former  days  served  as 
a  highway  to  the  castle.  For  "  Castle-Browne  "  it  was  called  more  than  a  century 
ago,  when  it  was  little  thought  the  disciples  of  Loyola  would  be  one  day  lords  of 
the  domain. 

"In  the  Cromwellian  days  it  belonged  to  a  family  of  the  name  of  Eustace. 
Curry,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Wars  in  Ireland,"  makes  sad  mention  of  the  ancient 
place.  He  tells  us :  — 

'"The  soldiers  of  Clongowe's-Wood  and  Rathcoffy,  yeilding  upon  quarter, 
were  conveyed  to  Dublin,  and  hanged  there,  and  upwards  of  150  women  and  chil 
dren  were  found  in  the  said  place  murdered.  It  is  well  known  that  the  commons 
of  that  country,  were,  for  the  most  part  destroyed  and  slaughtered  by  the 
English,  in  so  much  that  there  was  not  so  many  left  living  as  could  gather 
the  twentieth  part  of  the  harvest.' 

('T  was  the  "  Nature  of  the  Beast."    To-day  has  its  Cromwells  too). 

"  From  the  Eustaces  it  dropped  into  the  possession  of  the  Brownes,  from  whom 
it  derived,  and  for  many  years  held,  the  name  of  '  Castle-Browne ! '  Wogau 
Browne,  the  proprietor  of  the  estate  at  the  time,  was  implicated  in  the  insurrection 
of  1798.  Irish  gentlemen  of  high  fortune  and  social  rank  thought  it  no  discredit 
then  to  be  found  in  the  rebel  camp,  entrenched  and  staked  against  the  power 
of  England.  Not  far  from  Wogan  Browne,  in  his  stately  mansion  of  Rathcoffy, 
buried  deep  in  the  midst  of  the  noblest  old  trees  that  ever  made  music  with 
the  wind,  Hamilton  Rowan  lived,  whose  chivalrous  love  of  Ireland  would 
have  made  his  name  memorable,  had  not  the  eloquence  of  Curran  rendered  it 
immortal." 

After  indulging  in  fancy  pictures  of  the  gay  doings  in  the  castle  under 
its  former  occupants,  he  proceeds  to  a  more  sombre  subject, —  the  last  resting 
place  of  the  revellers :  — 

"  A  mile  from  the  college,  close  to  the  Maynooth  road,  the  spare,  melancholy, 
spectral  trees  of  Manhiem  church-yard  rise  up.  They  are  clearly  visible  from  the 
college.  In  regular  lines,  a  few  feet  apart,  they  stand  upon  a  rising  ground  of  the 
blackest  mold,  and  the  rankest  grass  of  the  darkest  green.  The  red  sun  of  August, 
going  down  behind  them,  looks  like  a  huge  furnace,  of  which  they  are  the 
iron  grating.  The  ruins  of  the  little  church,  the  name  and  history  of  which 
has  been  buried  in  the  dense  ivy  which  impenetrably  veils  its  very  stones,  lie 
behind  those  gaunt  dismal  trees,  covered  up  forever  like  the  other  dead  around 
them.  In  a  small  chapel,  not  much  larger  than  a  family  vault,  close  to  these  ruins, 
the  ancient  owners  of  the  castle,  the  Eustaces  and  Brownes,  sleep  in  their  narrow 


CLONGOWES.— OLD   SCENES  AND   REGRETS.  19 

beds  of  oak.  The  door-way  was  long  ago  walled  up,  but  through  the  narrow 
openings  in  the  walls  \vc  can,  by  squeezing  hard,  catch  a  dim  glimpse  of  the  huge 
slab,  with  its  four  huge  iron  rings,  under  which  the  coffins  of  the  old  masters  of 
the  place  rest." 

Meagher's  student  life  in  Clongowes  is  thus  described  by  his  compatriot  and 
friend.  John  Savage :  — 

"  Here  his  frank  and  happy  nature  endeared  him  to  his  associates.  He  was 
distinguished  for  the  heartiness  with  which  he  joined  in  all  the  freaks  of 
student  life,  and  the  sudden  impulses  of  study  that  enabled  him  to  carry  off 
the  honors  from  those  who  had  paled  their  brows  in  months  of  laborious  scrutiny. 
His  mind  was  quick  as  gay,  and  retentive  as  playful.  In  English  composition  and 
rhetoric  he  was  above  all  competitors,  and  already  became;  remarkable  for  that 
elegant  enthusiasm  which  afterwards,  in  so  short  a  space  of  time,  placed  his  name 
on  the  list  of  the  recognized  orators  who  have  contributed  so  largely  to  make  the 
history  and  literature  of  his  country." 

As  might  be  expected,  Meagher  was  the  most  brilliant  member  of  the  College 
Debating  Society  during  his  stay  at  Clongowes ;  and  soon  after  he  left  it  for  the 
English  College  of  Stonyhurst.  he  wrote  a  history  of  the  ''Clongowes  Debating 
Society,"  for  which  he  received  the  thanks  of  the  members  in  a  series  of  formal 
resolutions.  Subsequently,  on  the  occasion  of  one  of  O'Connell's  visits  to  Clon 
gowes,  the  work  was  presented  to  him  —  when  he  made  the  memorable  remark  :  — 
"  The  genius  that  could  produce  such  a  work  is  not  destined  to  remain  long  in 
obscurity.'' 

This  was  high  praise  from  such  a  man.  when  applied  to  a  youth  of  only  little 
more  than  sixteen  years. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

MORE  ABOUT  CLOXGOWES.  —  OLD  SCENES  AND  REGRETS. 

"  But  It  was  still  a  deeper  joy  to  set  before  my  soul 
The  names  that  burn  the  brightest  on  my  land's  historic  scroll,— 
To  feel  what  e'er  In  life  or  death  was  beautiful  and  grand, 
Ordained  me  to  the  ministry  of  struggling  for  that  land!" 

JOHN  FRAZEB 

NOTHING  in  the  sad  story  of  Ireland's  sorrowful  record  is  so  humiliating  to  her 
patriot  children  as  the  reflection  that,  in  the  efforts  of  her  hereditary  oppressors  to 
denationalize  her  people  by  sedulously  keeping  them  in  ignorance  of  her  history. 


20  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

language,  and  literature,  and  stifling  their  natural  aspirations  at  the  fountain 
head,  they  found  their  most  effective  agents  —  not  in  their  penal  enactments  and 
the  army  of  spies,  informers,  and  cut-throat  stipendiaries  engaged  in  enforcing 
them,  but  among  the  people  themselves  —  the  mind-blinded  slaves  who  gratui 
tously  volunteered  to  do  the  enemy's  hellish  work  by  perpetuating  their  own 
blindness  in  their  offspring,  and  those  entrusted  to  their  teaching.  It  may  seem 
incredible  to  the  present  generation  of  Irishmen  when  told  that  their  fathers 
were  cruelly  punished  at  school  for  speaking  their  native  language  —  the  only 
language  they  ever  heard  uttered  at  home,  —  and  this,  not  only  with  the  free 
consent,  but  by  the  demand  of  their  Irish-speaking,  slavish-souled  parents. 
Yet  there  are  many  still  living  who  can  corroborate  the  humiliating  story 
from  their  own  experiences. 

"  What !  "  I  fancy  I  hear  a  free-born  Irish- American  boy  exclaim,  "  Were  these 
the  Irish  schoolmasters  for  whose  heads  their  English  tyrants  offered  the  same 
bounty  as  they  gave  for  those  of  wolves?  " 

"No!  my  boy!  they  were  their  degenerate  successors  —  the  ' Hedge-schooJ 
Pedagogues  '  who  flourished  after  the  '  Penal  Laws '  were  abolished  —  the  inter 
mediaries  between  the  outlawed  professors  of  Celtic  learning  whose  academies 
were  hidden  in  the  recesses  of  the  hills  and  glens,  and  the  (miscalled)  '  Na 
tional '-school-teachers  of  to-day,  —  who,  as  a  class,  are  not  active  antagonists 
of  nationality  —  far  from  it,  but  are,  per  force,  compelled  to  ignore  it  in  their 
schools,  in  accordance  with  the  system  so  carefully  prepared  by  their  pay-masters, 
and  from  which  they  dare  not  deviate  if  they  value  their  means  of  subsistence." 

But,  it  is  not  alone  those  ignorant  instructors  of  the  past  generation,  or 
the  well-trained  human  machines  of  the  present  day  that  are  amenable  to  the 
charge  of  aiding  and  abetting  the  foreign  government  in  keeping  the  Irish  people 
—  so  far  as  in  them  lies  the  power  —  in  ignorance  of  their  country's  history, 
language  and  literature.  That  they  have  had  powerful  auxiliaries  in  quarters 
which  should  be  least  suspected  of  such  leanings,  the  following  narrative  of 
Meagher's  personal  experiences  in  Clongowes  will  attest.  The  possibility  of  such 
a  system  finding  favor  in  such  a  quarter  is  repugnant  to  all  our  pre-conceived  ideas 
of  that  enlightened,  persecuted,  and  villified  fraternity ;  but,  as  the  Peasant-Poet 
says :  — 

"Facts  are  chlels  that  winna'  ding, 
An'   clowna'  be  disputed." 

And  if  it  were  only  to  show  the  difficulties  which  Meagher's  thoroughly  Irish 
nature  surmounted,  and  that  it  was  not  through  his  college  education  but,  I 
may  say,  in  spite,  of  it,  that  he  developed  into  the  most  brilliant  exponent  of 
Irish  Nationality  in  his  generation,  it  is  fitting  that  the  truth  should  be  told. 
I  give  it  in  his  own  words.  May  they  serve  as  an  incentive  to  a  better 


CLOXGOWES.—  OLD   SCENES  AND  REGRETS.  2> 

system  for  the  guidance  of  all  interested  in  their  subject.  They  certainly 
will  leave  their  impress  on  the  mind  of  the  Celtic  reader. 

"The  dear  old  college  stood,  very  nearly  in  the  centre  of  a  circle  of 
ancient  towns.  There  was  Clane,  something  like  two  miles  off;  Kilcock, 
between  five  and  six;  Celbridge,  pretty  much  the  same;  Xaas,  not  a  perch 
further;  Prosperous,  within  four;  Maynooth,  in  the  opposite  quarter,  about 
the  srme  distance.  Very  old  and  ragged,  with  very  little  life  stirring  in 
them,  they  seemed  to  have  gone  to  sleep  many  years  ago,  and  to  have  at 
last  waked  up,  half-suffocated;  shivering  and  robbed  of  the  best  of  their 
clothes.  In  the  brightest  day  of  summer  they  impressed  me  with  this  notion. 
In  the  drenching  black  rain  of  December,  their  miserable  appearance  chilled 
the  blood  of  the  fattest  stranger  who  chanced  to  pass  through  them,  and  to 
the  imaginative  mind  suggested  the  ruins  of  Baalbec.  In  short,  there  was 
not  a  decent  town  ir.  Kildare.  nor  on  the  Kildare  borders  ot  Dublin. 

"  Clane  was  one  street.  The  street  numbered  a  hundred  houses,  more 
or  less.  Every  second  one  was  a  shebeen,  or  tavern,  dedicated,  as  the  sign 
board  intimated,  to  the  entertainment  of  Man  and  Beast.  There  was  a  police- 
barrack,  of  course,  with  a  policeman  perpetually  chewing  a  straw  outside  on 
the  door-step,  rubbing  his  shoulder  against  the  whitewash  of  the  door-post, 
and  winking  and  spitting  all  the  day  long.  There  was  a  Protestant  church, 
—  and  that,  too,  of  course,  right  oppposite  the  police-barrack  —  with  its  gaunt 
angular  dimensions,  fat  tower  in  front,  sheet-iron  spire,  and  gilt  weather-cock 
on  top. 

"There  was  a  low-sized,  most  modest,  low-roofed  little  Catholic  chapel, 
back  from  the  street  a  few  yards,  with  a  convent,  sheltering  three  Sisters 
of  Mercy,  on  the  right-hand  side  coming  down  from  Dublin,  and  on  towards 
the  south." 

"  At  the  southern  end  of  the  street,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  where 
the  houses  dropped  off,  the  beautiful  brown  Liffey,  deepening  into  gurgling 
pools,  spreading  thinly  and  sparklingly  over  beds  of  sand  and  pebbles,  threw 
itself  under  the  arches  of  the  quaintest,  queerest,  crookedest,  most  broken- 
backed  bridge,  that  ever  flung  shadows  on  the  flashing  path  of  the  speckled 
trout  and  red  salmon,  rushing  away,  with  many  a  round  of  caprice  and  tur 
moil,  through  green  rushes,  sand-banks  alive  with  martins,  sedges  rustling 
with  otters,  into  the  copper-hued  darkness  of  Irishtown  wood. 

"Oh!  what  a  river  is  that  exquisite  wild  Liffey!  How  it  tumbles;  glides 
away ;  buries  itself  darkly  in  pools  of  fabulous  depth ;  leaps  over  rocks ; 
deepens,  as  it  were,  thoughtfully,  under  ruins  and  raths;  plunges  down  into 
valleys ;  ripples  and  whispers  under  willows,  the  close  leaves  of  the  straw 
berry,  and  the  purple-ivied  basements  of  church-tower,  country-mansion  and 


22  MEMOIES  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEA  NCIS  ME  A  G  IIEE. 

castle;    running    the    wildest,    most    ruinous,   and    grandest    frolic  imagina!    * 
until    it    frowns    and    grows    sulky  a    little    above    King's    Bridge,   of    Dubl  i 
and  in  a  turbid  thick    stream    washes  the    granite    walls    of   the  quays,  ov  t 
which    the    Four    Courts    and    Custom    House  rear  their  stately  porticoes  and 
domes. 

"  In  a  yellowish,  dry,  worm-eaten  manuscript,  in  the  Arundelian  Library 
of  Stonyhurst,  I  glanced  one  day  on  a  passage  glowingly  eulogistic  of  Clane.* 
The  manuscript  contains  an  account  of  the  Synods  held  at  different  periods, 
in  Ireland.  This  poor  dribbling  village  of  Clane  was  the  favored  scene  of 
one  of  them,  six  hundred  years  back;  and,  apropos  to  it,  the  chronicler,  who 
ever  he  was,  styled  it  hortus  angelorum  —  the  '  Garden  of  Angels.'  It  is 
now  a  paradise  in  ruins.  The  broken  walls  of  .an  abbey,  matted  with  ivy, 
shadowing  a  confused  crowd  of  tomb-stones  and  tablets,  the  inscriptions  of 
which  no  casual  eye  can  decipher,  alone  remain  to  bear  out  the  panegyric' 
put  on  parchment  recording  its  saiutliness  and  glory. 

"  One  tomb  especially,  within  those  broken  grey  walls  ever  attracted  me, 
bringing  me  close  to  it,  and  urging  me  with  a  silent  impulse  back  into  the 
dim  paths  of  the  past.  It  was  that  of  a  Crusader.  So  I  thought.  So  every 
one  who  visited  it  thought.  So  the  whole  neighborhood  for  miles  around, 
and  for  generations,  decided.  Within  the  last  week,  I  have  been  looki  g 
over  one  of  the  beautiful  Tracts  of  the  Celtic  Union,  entitled  "The  True  a 
of  the  Crusaders  in  Ireland,"  and  whilst  I  find  in  its  bright  pages  vestiges 
of  this  chivalrous  Knighthood  near  Clonegall,  in  Carlow,  and  on  the  Mourue, 
three  miles  south  of  Mallow,  and  at  Toomavara,  near  the  ruins  of  Knock- 
bane,  and  in  the  parish  of  Temple-Michael  in  the  barony  of  Cushmore  and 
Cushbride,  and  at  Ballyhack,  close  to  the  estuary  of  the  Suir,  I  am  cast 
adrift  from  Clane,  where  the  chain-clothed  legs  and  turtle-breasted  body  of 


*  Clane,  the  original  Irish  name  of  which  wa8  CLUAIN  DAMH:  1.  e.  "Plain  of  the 
Ox,"  Is  a  place  of  great  antiquity.  The  great  St.  Allba,  of  Emly,  had  a  cell  or  her 
mitage  there  towards  the  close  of  the  fifth  century,  which  cell,  on  leaving,  about  the  year 
600,  A.  D.,  he  presented  to  St.  Slnell,  who  died  In  ,549,  and  who,  It  Is  said,  founded  the 
Monastery  of  Clane. 

The  Synod  referred  to  In  the  text  was  held  In  1162.  It  was  attended  by  twenty-six 
bishops  Hnd  a  any  abbots,  and  was  presided  over  by  GIlla-MacMag,  Comharba  of  St.  Patrick 
and  Primate  of  Ireland,  whose  name  has  been  Latinized  Gelaslus.  He  presided  over  the 
prlroatll  see  from  1145  to  1173,  duiing  which  time  he  occupies  a  distinguished  place  in 
the  history  of  the  Irish  church. 

Amongst  other  decrees  passed  at  the  Synod  of  Clane,  It  was  enacted  that  no  i  erson 
•hould  be  a  professor  of  theology  In  any  church  in  Ireland  who  had  not  been  an  alumnus 
or  student  of  the  University  of  Armagh. 


CLOXGOWS.—  OLD   SCENES  AND  B EGRETS.  2.'i 

a  Templar  burst  out,  as  if  with  an  incompressible  leprosy,  from  the  dock- 
weeds,  the  nettles,  the  rank  grass,  the  daffodils,  the  nightshade,  and  the 
blaekerry  bushes  with  which  it  is  hemmed  in,  overshadowed,  and  most 
dismally  margined. 

"  That's  the  fault  I  find  with  Clongowes.  They  talked  to  us  about  Mount 
Olympus  and  the  Vale  of  Tempe;  they  birched  us  into  a  flippant  acquaint 
ance  with  the  disreputable  Gods  and  Godesses  of  the  golden  and  heroic  ages; 
they  entangled  us  in  Euclid;  turned  our  brains  with  the  terrestrial  globe; 
chilled  our  blood  in  dizzy  excursions  through  the  Milky  Way;  paralyzed  our 
Lilliputian  loins  with  the  shaggy  spoils  of  Hercules;  bewildered  us  with  the 
Battle  of  the  Frogs  and  Mice;  pitched  us  precipitately  into  England,  amongst 
the  impetuous  Xormans  and  stupid  Saxons;  gave  us  a  look  through  an  inter 
minable  telescope,  at  what  was  doing  in  the  Xew  World;  but.  as  far  as 
Ireland  was  concerned,  they  left  us  like  blind  and  crippled  children,  in  the 
dark. 

"  They  never  spoke  of  Ireland.  Never  gave  us,  even  what  is  left  of  it, 
her  history  to  read.  Never  quickened  the  young  bright  life  they  controlled, 
into  lofty  conceptions  and  prayers  by  a  reference  to  the  martyrdoms,  the 
wrongs,  the  soldiership,  the  statesmanship,  the  magnificent  memories,  and 
illuminating  hopes  of  the  poor  old  land. 

"  All  this  was  then  to  me  a  cloud.  Xow  I  look  back  to  it,  shake  my 
hand  against  it,  and  say  it  was  a  curse. 

"The  fact  I  have  stated.  The  reason  of  it — at  least  what  appears  to 
me  to  be  the  reason  of  it  —  I  may,  in  a  little  time,  explain. 

"  What  true  scholars  and  patriots  they  might  have  made,  those  old  Jesuits 
of  Clongowes,  had  they  taken  their  pupils  to  the  battle-fields  of  William 
Aylmer's  army  —  skirting  the  Bog  of  Allen  —  or  to  the  Geraldiue  ruins  of 
Maynooth,  or  the  grave  of  Wolfe  Tone  in  Bodenstown  churchyard,  or  to  the 
town  of  Prosperous,  where  Dr.  Esmond  buried  the  Red  Cross  under  the  hot 
ashes  of  his  insurgent  torch,  or  to  the  woods  and  mansion  of  Rath-Cofley,  where 
Hamilton  Rowan  once  lived  —  where  the  bay  of  his  famous  blood-hounds  still 
echoed  in  my  time,  and  where  an  old  man  — lean,  shrivelled,  skinny,  with 
wiry,  thin  locks  —  still  mumbled  and  shuffled  along  the  decayed  avenue,  show 
ing  the  worn  pike,  at  the  end  of  his  staff,  which  he  had  charged  with 
against  the  North  Cork  in  Maynooth;  what  true  scholars  and  patriots,  Irish 
men  in  nerve  and  soul,  might  they  have  made  us,  had  they  taken  us  to 
these  sites,  instead  of  keeping  us  within  the  pillars  of  the  Parthenon,  or 
the  forum  and  shambles  of  the  Tiber. 

"  I  write  this,  not  that  they  kept  us  aloof  from  these  places  of  national 
interest;  not  that  they  actually  imprisoned  us  within  the  routine  range  of  the 


24  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHEB. 

classics,  and  shut  the  gates  on  us,  as  if  there  were  no  chastity  or  illumi 
nation  without;  but  that  we  wandered  with  them,  day  after  day,  miles  upon 
miles,  over  these  fields  and  localities,  without  a  finger  to  mark  them  on  our 
memories,  or  a  syllable  to  mingle  them  with  our  joyousuess,  our  poetry,  and 
rhetoric.  Ireland  was  the  last  nation  we  were  taught  to  think  of,  to  respect, 
to  love  and  remember. 

"It  is  an  odd  fiction  which  represents  the  Irish  Jesuits  as  conspirators 
against  the  stability  of  the  English  empire  in  Ireland.  With  two  or  three 
exceptions  they  were  not  O'Connellites  even.  In  that  beautiful,  grand,  castle 
of  theirs,  circled  by  their  fruitful  gardens  and  grain-fields,  walled  in  by  their 
stately  dense  woods  of  beech-trees,  walnut,  and  firs,  they  lived  and  taught  — 
so  it  seems  to  me  now  —  rather  as  hostages  and  aliens  than  freemen  and 
citizens. 

"  But,  I  can't  bear  to  say  anything  against  Clongowes.  It  is  to  me  a 
dear  old  spot.  Long  may  that  old  tree,  on  which  I've  carved  my  name,  put 
forth  its  fragrant  blossoms,  multiply  its  fruit,  lift  its  aged  head  to  Heaven, 
and  receive  thereon  the  dews  which  fertilize,  and  the  golden  beams  that 
propagate." 


CHAPTER  V. 

MEAGHER  AND    SHIEL.— AN  OLD  BOOK'S    INFLUENCE.  —  OLD 
CATHOLIC    LEADERS. 

MEAGIIER'S  speeches  during  his  first  year  of  public  life,  have  been  com 
pared  to  those  of  Shiel,  the  silver-tongued  orator  of  the  Catholic  Association. 
There  is  no  doubt  but  that,  in  brilliancy  of  style,  passionate  energy,  enno 
bling  sentiment,  and  scornful  defiance  of  tyranny,  there  is  a  close  resemblance 
observable  between  the  lyrical  phillipics  of  those  typical  orators  of  their 
respective  eras.  Palpable  as  this  resemblance  may  seem  to  the  readers  of  their 
speeches,  it  is  not  surprising.  Both  were  natural  orators,  with  sensitive  hearts 
and  impetuous  temperaments,  and,  the  mind  of  the  younger  was,  in  a  certain 
degree,  influenced  by  the  study  of  the  other's  masterpieces  which  so  vividly 
gave  expression  to  his  own  kindred  thoughts  and  feelings. 

Had  Shiel  remained  faithful  as  Meagher  to  the  patriotic    principles    which 


MEAGHER   AND    SHIEL.—  OLD    CATHOLIC  LEADERS.  25 

inspired  the  genius  of  his  manhood  in  its  prime,  his  efforts  in  the  cause  of 
Freedom  would  share,  with  those  of  the  latter,  the  admiration  of  succeeding 
generations  of  his  countrymen.  As  it  is,  the  inconsistency  of  his  political 
course  in  after  life,  by  weakening  their  faith  in  the  sincerity  of  his  patriot 
ism  and  his  actuating  motives  in  his  early  career,  detracts,  in  a  great  measure, 
from  the  estimation  which  his  cotemporaries  accorded  to  his  soul-stirring 
efforts  in  the  national  cause. 

Let  his  countrymen  give  him  credit  for  the  services  he  rendered  his  land 
in  her  struggles  for  civil  and  religious  liberty,  —  even  though  he  did  not 
fulfil  all  their  expectations,  and  persevere  to  the  end  in  a  career  of  self- 
sacrificing  antagonism  to  their  wily  foe.  Men  not  possessed  of  one-tenth  of 
his  genius,  who  never  rendered  their  country  one-tenth  of  his  services,  have, 
since  his  time,  fallen  out  of  the  national  ranks  —  though  "enlisted  for  the 
war,"  and  their  lack  of  stamina  has  been  condoned  or  unnoticed,  save  where 
their  desertion  was  supplemented  by  treachery. 

Shiel  was  never  amenable  to  such  a  charge.  For  the  rest: — "  Let  him 
who  is  without  sin  cast  the  first  stone ! " 

Shiel's  influence  on  Meagher,  as  a  student,  can  be  learned  from  the  fol 
lowing  reminiscence  of  the  latter's  collegiate  career. 

"In  the  library  at  Clongowes — the  one  devoted  to  the  boys  —  there  was 
a  copy  of  Shiel's  and  O'Connell's  speeches.  It  was  a  shabby-looking  old  book. 
Miserable  paper,  print,  and  binding.  The  leaves  all  torn  and  defaced  with 
pencil-marks.  The  stitching  exposed.  The  title-page  depending  on  a  shred 
for  its  connection  with  the  preface. 

"  Beggarly  as  it  looked,  it  was  to  me  beyond  all  price.  It  was  my  favorite 
book.  I  loved  it.  All  the  more  so  because  it  was  in  rags.  The  very  plea- 
santest  hours  I  had  in  that  old  college  of  Clongowes,  I  spent  with  this 
indigent  volume.  A  rickety  casket,  full  of  bruises,  and  threatening  every 
minute  to  fall  to  pieces,  it  contained  for  me  a  heap  of  the  rarest  emeralds, 
the  lustre  of  which,  even  in  the  hardest  frost,  made  my  eyes  melt  and 
water. 

"  Had  I  it  in  my  power  now,  it  should  have  a  superb  book-case  for  its 
own  special  uss  and  benefit.  A  book-case  of  the  soundest  bog-oak  —  twelve 
feet  high  —  fashioned  like  the  'Round  Tower  of  Clonmacnoise,'  the  most 
beautiful  of  them  all.  I  should  dress  it  up  sumptuously  in  green  velvet, 
and  give  it  an  inner  vest  of  white  watered  silk,  and  stiffen  its  aged  back 
with  bars  of  gold. 

"  In  the  round  tower  of  bog-oak  it  should  with  impunity  repose  for  ever, 
safe  from  all  prying  eyes,  and  the  profane  pencils  of  reckless  annotators. 
All  this  it  would  well  deserve,  for  the  hours  of  ecstacy  of  which  it  was 
the  exhaustless  source. 


-26  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

"The  principal  speeches  of  O'Connell  and  Shiel,  delivered  during  the  days 
•of  the  great  Catholic  Association  from  1825  to  1829,  were  to  be  found  in 
its  disordered  pages.  The  first  inserted  was  one  pronounced  by  O'Connell, 
in  the  summer  of  1827,  in  the  great  chapel  in  the  city  of  Waterford.  In 
this  speech  he  gives  a  richly  humorous  description  of  a  parson  of  the  Estab 
lished  Church. 

"In  this  speech  I  also  found  that  beautiful  passage:  —  'I  look  at  home, 
and  I  am  not  disheartened.  I  look  abroad,  and  my  spirit  is  exalted.  From 
the  coast  of  Labrador  to  where  Cape  Horn  beholds  two  oceans  commingle, 
Liberty  is  everywhere  extending  her  dominion.  Her  voice  comes  to  us  across 
the  Atlantic,  is  heard  above  the  storm,  and,  like  summer  music  in  the  hea 
vens,  gladdens  the  ear  of  seven  millions  of  Irishmen.' 

"And  it  was  in  this  speech  that  he  spoke  of  the  example  which  America 
would  be  to  the  young  generation  springing  up  about  him.  . 

"There  were  not  more  than  a  dozen  of  Shiel's  speeches  in  the  volume. 
All  of  them  brilliant  and  exciting  to  excess,  drove  the  blood  burning  through 
my  veins,  and  filled  my  mind,  as  by  a  violent  enchantment,  with  the  visions 
which  were  the  inspiration  of  whatever  strong  words  fell  from  me  in  later 
years." 

Meagher  first  saw  Shiel  —  and  heard  him  deliver  a  speech  —  on  what  was 
to  him  a  familiar  theme  —  at  the  great  aggregate  meeting  of  Catholics  con 
vened  in  Dublin,  in  January,  1844,  to  protest  against  the  exclusion  of  Catholics 
from  the  jury  empanelled  to  try  O'Connell  and  his  associate  Repealers.  The 
two  met  personally,  for  the  first  time,  in  July,  1845,  at  the  table  of  the 
Rev.  John  Sheehan,*  Parish  Priest  of  St.  Patrick's,  Waterford. 

On  that  occasion  Shiel  informed  Meagher,  that,  for  some  years  after 
Queen  Victoria's  accession  to  the  throne,  she  entertained  a  strong  repugnance 
to  his  being  invited  to  share  in  the  government  patronage.  She  peremptorily 
refused  to  assent  to  his  appointment  to  the  position  of  Judge  Advocate, 
though  Lord  Melbourne  and  other  members  of  the  cabinet  earnestly  urged 


*  Father  John  Sheehan  was,  at  that  time,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  priests  In  the 
diocese  of  Waterford.  Beloved  and  reveied  by  his  own  flock,  no  clergynmn  of  any  denom 
ination  was  more  esteemed  by  his  fellow  citizens  at  large.  A  profound  scholar  and 
accomplished  gentleman;  a  pious,  energetic  and  devoted  pastor,  and  a  steadfast  and  uncom 
promising  advocate  of  Irish  Independence,  he  pursued  his  consistent  career  to  the  end  of 
his  life's  journey,  never,  through  considerations  of  expediency,  deviating  from  his  chosen 
path. 

He  died  on  the  18th  of  February,  1854,  In  the  65th  year  of  his  age,  and  42d  of  his 
sacred  ministry.  He  Is  buried  In  the  chapel  In  which  he  officiated  as  pastor  for  25  years. 
A  white  marble  tablet  In  the  wall  above  his  grave  commemorates  his  virtues,  and  bears 
testimony  to  the  veneiatlon  of  his  friends  of  all  creeds  and  classes. 


MEAGHER   AND   SHIEL.—  OLD    CATHOLIC   LEADERS.  27 

it.  The  cause  of  Victoria's  antipathy  to  the  "Emancipation  Orator"  lay  in 
his  scathing  denunciations  of  her  bigoted  uncle  —  the  Duke  of  York.  Her 
predecessor,  William  IV.,  bitterly  hated  Shiel  to  the  hour  of  his  death  —  for 
the  same  family  reason. 

If  Shiel  had  no  stronger  claims  on  the  affections  of  his  countrymen  — 
they  might  well  — 

"  Love  him  —  for  the  enemies  he  had  made." 

In  Meagher's  graphic  pen-portraits  of  the  old-time  Catholic  celebrities  who, 
with  Shiel,  attended  the  before-mentioned  Dublin  meeting  —  I  find  two  thus 
delineated :  — 

"There  was  Mr.  Wyse,  the  historian  of  the  struggle,  as  he  had  been 
one  of  the  most  accomplished  actors  in  the  movement,  which  eventuated  in 
the  emancipation  of  the  Catholics.  At  present  British  minister  at  Athens,  he 
resides  in  a  city  where  the  very  stones  must  be  dear  to  him,  and  where 
every  breeze  that  ripples  the  JEge&n  must  wake  his  congenial  mind,  already 
so  impressed  with  the  spirit  of  the  past,  into  harmonies  of  subdued  rapture 
and  delight. 

"There,  also,  was  Sir  Thomas  Esmonde,  one  of  the  oldest,  if  not  the 
oldest  Baronet  in  Ireland.  A  plain,  good-natured,  conscientious  country-gen 
tleman,  who,  if  able  to  say  little,  brought  with  his  ancient  Baronetcy  no 
Blight  social  weight  to  the  meetings  and  petitions  of  his  Catholic  comrade?, 
and,  being  independent  in  fortune,  was  above  contempt,  suspicion  or  intrigue. 

"  He  was  a  patriot,  however,  with  considerable  reservations.  He  was  a 
patriot  in  the  wake  of  the  Whigs,  and  though  occasionally  showing  a  little 
independent  flag  of  his  own  —  a  pocket-handkerchief  of  home  manufacture, 
with  a  spunky  sentiment  barely  legible  in  one  corner  of  it  —  never  had  the 
pluck  or  the  good  sense  to  get  out  of  the  track  which  their  passage  through 
politics  ambiguously  left.  Nevertheless  he  was  an  excellent  man,  and  a 
chivalrous  Catholic." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

IN  STONYHURST.  —  ERADICATION  OF  THE  IRISH  BROGUE. 

AFTER  spending  six  years  in  Clongowes,  Meagher  was  sent  to  finish  his 
education  at  Stonyhurst  College,  in  England.  He  thus  describes  the  place  as 
seen  on  his  first  arrival  thereat :  — 


38  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEB. 

"Two  towers  topped  with  eagles  rise  up  out  of  a  deep  valley.  It  is  a 
deep,  black  valley.  Yet  there  are  streams  rippling  through  that  valley,  and 
there  are  old  trees  in  dense  masses,  stretching  their  wrinkled  arms  all  through 
it,  and  sheltering  betimes  among  their  fallen  leaves  and  branches  the  most 
delicious  game,  pheasants,  deer,  and  wood-cock;  and  there  are  high  hills,  once 
the  haunt  of  witches,  girdling  it  in  gaunt  and  desolate  sterility." 

For  four  years  our  young  countryman  pursued  his  studies  in  his  new 
alma  muter;  during  all  which  time  the  principal  effort  of  one,  at  least, 
among  his  conscientious  instructors,  seems  to  have  been  devoted  to  the  eradi 
cation  of  his  "detested  Irish  brogue,"  and  the  replacing  thereof  with  the 
orthodox  English  accent.  How  he  eventually  succeeded,  those  who  were 
familiar  in  after  years  with  his  pupil's  peculiarly  foreign  mode  of  expression, 
(which  many  mistook  for  affectation,)  can  testify.  Strange  to  say,  Meagher 
himself,  never  could  believe  in  the  success  of  his  pro-English  pedagogue. 
That  his  mellifluous  Muuster  accent  came  forth  from  the  ordeal  unscathed 
and  triumphant  was  his  confidant  opinion,  —  as  the  following  amusing  account 
of  one  episode  in  the  idiomatic  war  will  illustrate.  It  is  to  be  found  in  one 
of  his  "Personal  Recollections, " — entitled:  — 

14  CHRISTMAS    WITH    THE    JESUITS.  — THEATRICALS    AT 
STONYHURST. 

"  Theatricals  formed  a  conspicuous  part  of  the  collegiate  course  conducted 
by  the  Jesuits.  They  were  looked  for  as  confidently  as  a  lesson  in  arith 
metic,  or  a  lecture  in  hydraulics.  Christmas  would  have  been  no  Christmas 
without  them. 

"  Had  they  been  dropped  the  boys  would  not  have  stood  their  omission. 
In  that  case  there  would  have  been  a  mutiny.  Barricades  of  desks  and 
stools  —  bedsteads,  pillows,  and  crockery-ware  —  thrown  up  in  every  direction, 
the  discipline  of  the  college  would  have  been  suspended.  Suspended  is  a 
meek  word.  It  would  have  been  utterly  upset.  Stouyhurst  would  never  have 
gone  on  without  its  annual  farce,  comedy,  melo-drama,  or  tragedy. 

"The  theatre  was  liberal  in  its  proportions,  coloring,  and  gilding.  There 
was  an  amphitheatre  in  front  —  benches  in  a  semi-circle  rising  one  above  the 
other,  to  the  height  of  thirty  feet  —  and  a  space  of  twelve  feet  between  the 
lower  bench  and  platform.  The  foot-lights  studded  the  margin  of  a  platform, 
two  feet  and  a  half  above  the  level  of  the  floor  of  the  amphitheatre.  The 
stage,  gradually  ascending,  stretched  away  back  for  forty  feet,  leaving  behind 
the  back  and  side  scenes,  the  amplest  room  for  hordes  of  brigands,  shoals 
•of  chorus-singers,  and  crowds  of  citizens  and  soldiers.  Attached  to  the  theatre 


STOXYHURST.—  THE  IRISH  BROGUE 


was  an  oppulent  war.lrobe.  The  armory  was  well  supplied,  too.  The  scenei  y 
was  boldly  and  brilliantly  painted.  The  machinery  was  sumptuous. 

"There  was  a  large  expanse  of  sheet-iron  for  thunder.  It  hung  like  a 
rusty  tray  (with  ropes  through  the  handles.)  from  the  square  uprights  sup 
porting  the  furthermost  scene  on  the  rollers.  A  long  deal  box  (one  would 
think  it  coffined  a  salmon-rod,)  contained  swan-shot,  which,  swung  about  to 
and  fro  in  its  case,  rattled  and  gurgled  like  rain.  There  were  tin  tubes 
for  blowing  rosin  against  the  blaze  of  a  mold-candle.  This  operation  produced 
lightning.  It  was  simple  but  splendid.  In  Ki>,g  Lear  I  became  acqaiuted 
with  this  secret. 

"  I  was  in  the  school  of  Rhetoric.  The  Rev.  William  Johnson  was  my 
master.  Very  gentle,  very  kind,  with  the  softest  whisper  for  a  voice,  with 
an  awkward  actio:.  of  the  arms  from  the  shoulders  down,  irresolute  legs, 
and  a  cumbersome  preponderance  of  ears  and  tongue,  his  excellencies  and  de 
fects  equally  divided  the  notice  of  his  tmpils.  They  loved  him,  and  they 
laughed  at  him.  His  shirt-collar  was  enough  to  destroy  an  Adonis.  The 
boys  he  had  charge  of  fired  squibs  at  him.  Had  there  been  a  necessity  — 
the  faintest  threatening  of  danger  to  him  —  they'd  have  flung  themselves  be 
fore  him,  and  died  for  him.  Born  and  bied  in  Lancashire  —  an  Englishman  to 
the  marrow  —  fearful  somewhat  of  O'Connell  though  constantly  reciting  Tommy 
Moore  —  he  couldn't  bear  the  Irish  brogue.  It  was  to  him  a  sickening  vul 
garism.  His  handkerchief  (it  was  never  without  holes  and  blotches,)  covered 
his  mouth  and  roseate  nostrils,  whenever  a  '  bekase  '  or  an  *  arrah  '  exploded 
within  range  of  his  hearing.  These,  to  be  sure,  are  barbarous  words.  Many 
and  many  an  Iri«h  ear  would  be  hurt  with  them.  But  the  sweetest  words 
—  Athenian  or  Arcadian  —  a  stanza  from  Anacreou,  or  a  verse  from  the  Can 
ticle  of  Solomon  —  uttered  with  an  Irish  accent  —  uttered  with  the  rich  roll 
of  the  Milesian  tongue  —  was  enough,  and  more  than  enough,  to  give  hysterics 
or  nausea  to  the  Rev.  William  Johnson,  Professor  of  Rhetoric. 

"  '  Meagher,'  he  used  to  say,  coughing  into  his  handkerchief,  and  looking 
as  if  the  interposition  of  a  basin  would  sooth  him,  'that's  a  horrible  brogue 
you  have  got.' 

"He  would  try  me,  however.  He  had  the  management  of  the  tragedy. 
The  Professor  of  Poetry  —  the  Rev.  Mr.  Clough  —  had  the  comedy  and  farce. 
King  Lear  was  the  great  piece  of  the  season. 

"The  part  assigned  me  was  that'  of  the  Earl  of  Kent.  The  night  of 
the  full  rehearsal,  (a  week  before  Christmas,)  I  had  hardly  uttered  these 
words  :  — 

'  Fare  ihee  well,  King;  since  thus  thou  wilt  appear, 
Freedom   lives   hence,  ami   banishment  Is  here'  — 


30  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

before  the  manager,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Johnson,  striking  me  on  the  back  of  the 
head  with  the  large  manuscript  copy  of  the  play,  cried  out  in  a  fit  of  disgust  — 

"''Twill  never  do,  Meagher,  —  that  frightful  brogue  of  yours  well  never 
do  for  Shakspeare.' 

"  Nevertheless,  with  the  sweetest  composure  I  continued  the  speech,  the 
entire  court  laughing  —  King  Lear  himself,  forgetful  of  his  gray  hairs,  knit 
ting  his  eyebrows  and  pinching  his  wrinkled  nose  to  keep  down  his  merriment 
—  whilst  the  enraged  manager  endeavored  to  drown  my  beautiful  brogue  with 
exclamations  of  horror. 

'Thus  Kent,  O  princes,  bids  you  all  adieu; 
He'll  shape  his  old  course  to  a  country  new.' 

"  With  these  words  on  my  lips,  bowing  gracefully  and  mournfully  to  the 
nobility,  I  retired  to  the  sofa  on  which  the  Knight  was  shortly  to  stretch 
himself.  Up  hurries  the  manager,  shakes  the  manuscript  at  me,  and  growing 
Very  red  in  the  face  says : — 

"  '  Meagher,  't  will  never  do  —  I  must  degrade  you  from  the  Peerage  — 
I'll  give  Clifford  your  part.  You'll  have  to  be  a  common  soldier;  you'll  have 
to  bring  in  the  stocks  for  Kent,  carry  a  brown-bill  in  the  battle  scenes,  make 
thunder  and  rain  in  the  tempest,  and  turn  the  wind.' 

"That  night  I  had  to  give  up  my  hose,  my  scarlet  velvet  hat  and  fea 
thers,  my  silk  cloak  and  sandals,  my  sword  and  jacket  —  everything  that 
pertained  to  my  Earldom.  Clifford  received  them  from  me;  and  in  exchange 
I  received  from  him  \\  tin  helmet,  a  breast-plate  of  leather,  a  pair  of  bus 
kins,  and  a  battle-axe  and  spear.  It  wasn't  the  first  time  the  brogue  entailed 
the  forfeiture  of  title  and  estate.  I  felt  I  was  a  martyr  to  the  peculiarities 
of  my  race.  The  sandwiches  and  negus  consoled  me.  The  common  soldier 
had  as  much  of  bo:h  as  the  Earl.  Besides,  I  had  my  revenge.  I  fastened 
my  successor  so  tight  in  the  stocks  the  first  night  of  the  public  perform 
ance,  that  he  had  to  be  carried  off  tae  stage  (stocks  and  all,)  before  his 
legs  could  be  freed.  In  the  battle  on  Dover  Cliffs,  I  used  the  battle-axe 
and  spear  with  impetuous  strength.  I  cut  a  rock  in  two  —  wounded  Lear  in 
the  thigh  —  upset  Cordelia,  and  hotly  pursuing  the  Fool,  who  had  no  business 
there  at  all,  tumbled  against  the  manager,  who  tumbled  against  a  drummer, 
who,  in  his  turn  tumbled  over  '  Mad  Tom.' 

"  During  the  storm  on  the  Heath,  my  revenge  was  magnificent.  Not  in 
vain  did  Lear,  with  his  hoarse,  wild  voice,  cry  out:  — 

'Blow  winds,  and  crack  your  cheeks!   ragel   blow! 
You  cataracts,  and  hurricanes,  spout  1' 

"With  the  frenzy  of  a  fiend.   I  rattled  the  thunder,   shook  the  rain-box. 


STOXYHURST.—  THE  IRISH  BROGUE.  31 


twirled  the  handle  of  the  wind-mill.  The  lightning  I  made  was  terrific.  It 
kept  the  Heath  in  a  blaze.  To  no  purpose  did  the  Rev.  William  Johnson 
call  'Silence  —  stop  that  lightning.'  I  answered  him  with  a  stunning  peal  or 
a  blinding  flash.  In  vain  did  he  beseech  the  winds  to  abate  their  fury. 
Hurricanes  followed  quick  upon  his  prayers  for  peace.  Lear  threatened  to 
kick  me  (the  moment  he  got  off  the  stage,)  for  keeping  up  a  deafening 
whirlwind  during  his  prophesy  about  heretics  and  tailors,  brewers  and  cut- 
purses.  The  physician,  (he  was  one  of  the  Cliftons  of  Yorkshire,)  threw 
some  camp  furniture  at  me.  The  manager,  even  above  the  wind  and  thun 
der,  was  heard  to  exclaim:  —  'You'll  be  flogged  for  this,  Meagher  —  I'll  make 
Rome  howl.' 

"In  the  fourth  scene  of  the  fourth  act,  where  I  had  to  enter  as  a  Mes 
senger,  I  ran  away  with  Quigley's  (the  Fool's)  cap,  and  with  this  on  my 
head,  and  a  sandwich  in  the  same  hand  with  the  battle-axe,  walked  in  mag 
nificently,  saluted  Cordelia,  and,  with  the  most  powerful  brogue  I  could 
muster,  announced  that  — 

"  The  British  powers  were  marching  thitherward." 

"  The  audience  received  the  announcement  with  an  enthusiastic  cheer, 
insisting  vociferously  on  my  repeating  the  message. 

"The  Irish  brogue  triumphed.  It  drew  down  the  house  in  a  tremendour 
encore." 

The  "Irish  brogue"  may  have  triumphed  on  that  occasion,  but  as  "con 
stant  dropping  wears  a  stone,"  the  English  "Professor  of  Rhetoric"  eventually 
succeeded  in  metamorphosing  it  so  completely  as  to  render  it  unrecognizable 
by  Meagher's  own  countrymen,  many  of  whom  mistook  his  mincing  accent  for 
affectation.*  But  this  was  only  in  ordinary  colloquy,  when  neither  his  feel- 


*An  amusing  Incident  Illustrative  of  this  misconceptloa  of  Meagher's  acquired  Idiom 
on  the  part  of  Ms  unconventional  and  sensitive  countrymen,  was  related  to  me  by  an  old 
follower  of  his  from  the  Sulr-slde  — Mr.  Maurice  I'helan,  now  a  prosperous  citizen  of  Mount 
Sterling,  111.  For  a  considerable  time  after  Meagher's  arrival  In  New  York,  In  the  summer 
of  1852,  his  admiring  •  countrymen  In  that  city  and  Its  vicinity,  sought  every  available 
opportunity  to  see  and  hear  him,  and,  If  possible,  obtain  the  honor  of  shaking  his  han<i 
while  giving  him  a  "Cead  mile  Fallte"  to  the  "Land  of  the  Free!"  To  gratify  this 
natural  feeling  to  some  extent,  the  illustrious  exile  was  induced  to  appear  at  several 
public  receptions  In  the  Metropolis  of  Democracy.  At  one  of  these  assemblages  my  friend, 
Maurice  and  a  fellow-Carrlckman  attended. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Meagher's  brilliant  and  hopeful  address,  Maurice  observed  his 
townsman  making  strenuous  exertions  to  force  his  way  through  the  crowd  that  thronged 
round  the  orator.  He  succeeded  at  length  In  speaking  to  and  shaking  the  hand  of  the 
object  of  his  admiration.  But  when  afterwards  asked  by  his  comrade  "how  he  enjoyed  the 


82  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAQHER. 


or  passions  were  excited.  In  the  tribune  there  was  not  a  vestige  of 
bis  acquired  idiom  observable,  and  but  very  little  when  he  was  telling  one 
of  his  humorous  stories.  There  he  was  inimitable.  Every  sentence  bubbled 
over  with  the  very  essence  of  fun  that  had  its  well-spring  in  a  nature  "racy 
of  the  soil."  His  pen-pictures  of  Irish  character  make  charming  reading,  but 
to  fully  appreciate  the  delineator's  fidelity  to  nature,  one  should  hear  and 
see  him,  when,  in  congenial  society,  he  gave  free  vent  to  his  exuberant  spirit 
in  language  flashing  with  genuine  Irish  wit  —  reflecting  the  merriment  that 
sparkled  in  his  soul-speaking  eyes  and  animated  every  feature  of  his  typical 
Celtic  countenance. 

That  was  a  treat  to  be  remembered  for  a  life-time. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

"1843." 

• 

"That  was  the  time  fqr  a  man  to  be  young." 

JOHN   F.  O'DONNELL. 

\ 

THE  year  1843  is  one  of  the  most  memorable  in  modern  Irish  history. 
Since  Sarsfleld  sailed  for  France  the  country  was  never  so  hopeful  or  so 
strong.  Physically,  morally,  or  intellectually,  her  people  were  never  in  a 


Interview?"  he,  In  .an  abashed  and  somewhat  irritable  tone,  acknowledged  that  he  was 
disappointed  at  his  recepiicm.  Jleagher's  accent  and  conventional  manner  had  chilled  his 
enthu;iastlc  nature.  It  was  so  different  from  what  he  anticipated  judging  from  his  own 
Impulsive  feelings. 

His  interlocutor,  who  was  a  hard-headed,  practical  patriot,  and  had  "  shouldered  a 
pike  on  the  hllis"  with  that  most  practical  of  all  the  "  Forty-eight"  lenders  —  John  o'Mahony, 
had  no  patience  with  his  super  sensitive  townsman.  He  bluutly  told  him  not  to  be  "makln* 
ft  Judy"  of  hlmsjlf. 

"Why!"  says  he,  "didn't  Mr.  Meagher  shake  hands  with  you!" 

"Oh!    he  did." 

"An",  didn't  he  say   he  'was    glad  to  see   you?'" 

"He  did  say  so  — but  — 

"Ach!  don't  bother  me  with  your  '  buts.'  What  the  deuce  more  did  you  want  of  him; 
Or  did  you  expect  him  to  ask  —  'How  Is  your  graudmother?  '" 

I  think  if  Meagher,  himself,  had  heard  the  story  he  would  have  heartily  enjoyed  it. 


"  1S43."  33 

better  position  to  renew  their  irrepressible  struggle  for  nationality.  They 
numbered  nearly  nine  millions,  and  the  food  to  sustain  them  was  plentiful 
and  cheap.  During  the  preceding  five  years  the  heaven-inspired  labors  of 
Father  Mathew  had  banished  the  "demon  of  intemperance"  from  the  island, 
and  so  prepared  the  way  for  the  holding  of  those  mighty  gatherings  through 
out  the  country  in  which  were  exhibited  the  physical  power  and  moral 
discipline  which  won  for  the  people  the  admiration  of  the  world,  with  the 
sole  exception  of  the  tyrants  who  profited  by  the  slave's  vices  of  self-de 
basement  and  drink-engendered  strife. 

Through  Father  Mathew's  exertions,  the  fell  "Spirit  of  Discord"  was 
exorcised  from  the  people's  hearts,  and  peace  and  happiness  brought  into 
their  homes — (only  too  many  of  which  were  made  miserable  by  drink).  Nor 
were  the  benefits  resulting  from  his  super-human  labors  limited  to  the  moral 
and  material  improvement  of  his  people.  Intellectually,  he  accomplished  much 
for  the  rising  generation.  The  "  Temperance  Bands,"  organized  under  his 
auspices,  made  the  hills  of  Ireland  resound  to  the  thrilling  notes  of  our 
grand  old  national  music;  while  the  Temperance  Eeading-rooms  fostered  a  taste 
for  a  healthy  national  literature,  which  the  gifted  and  patriotic  writers  of 
the  "NATION''  were  then  engaged  in  supplying. 

Men  of  the  Irish  race,  through  succeeding  generations,  will  owe  a  debt 
of  deep  gratitude  to  the  founders  of  that  greatest  propagandist  of  nation 
ality  their  country  has  ever  seen.  That  country  never  lacked  patriots  and 
men  of  genius.  But  it  is  doubtful  if,  at  any  period  of  her  history  —  the 
brightest  or  the  darkest, —  she  produced  three  men  whose  united  efforts  exerted 
such  a  salutary  and  lasting  influence  on  the  hearts  and  intellects  of  their 
race,  as  did  the  founders  of  the  "  Nation "  —  Duffy,  Dillon,  and  Davis. 

It  is  utterly  impossible  for  the  present  generation  of  newspaper-readers 
to  comprehend  the  enthusiastic  delight  with  which  the  appearance  of  the 
new  journal  was  hailed  by  the  people,  to  whom  it  came  as  a  revelation  of 
a  new  destiny  for  their  country  and  race.  Hungering,  as  they  had  long 
been,  for  healthy  intellectual  nourishment,  they  devoured  its  contents  with 
eager  avidity,  and  a  blessing  for  the  providers  of  the  weekly  feast. 

Of  the  gifted  triumvirate,  Duffy,  as  the  editor,  became,  from  the  first 
appearance  of  the  journal,  known  to,  and  appreciated  by,  the  masses  of  his 
readers;  and  his  actual  work,  in  prose  and  poetry,  well  entitled  him  to  their 
loving  admiration.  To-day,  after  a  lapse  of  nearly  half  a  century  — finds  him 
still  engaged  in  the  noble  work  of  educating  a  new  generation  of  his  coun 
trymen.  During  the  past  ten  years  he  has  contributed  more  to  Irish  historical 
literature  than  all  his  living  contemporaries  combined;  and,  in  his  latest  and 
greatest  "labor  of  love"— th«  "Life  of  Thomas  Davis!"  — he  has  presented 
3 


34  MEMOIBS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEB. 

the  men  of  his  race,  of  all  classes  and  creeds,  with  a  soul-inspiring  Gospel 
of  Irish  Nationality,  from  which,  as  from  a  "  Holy  "Well "  they  may  imbibe 
pure  draughts  of  wisdom  and  love,  and  learn  lessons  of  steadfast  labor  and 
self-reliance. 

Dillon's  contributions  to  the  "Nation"  were  mostly  distinguished  for 
calm  thoughtfulness,  the  deep  sympathy  they  manifested  for  the  toilers  of 
the  land ;  the  knowledge  displayed  regarding  the  primary  cause  of  their  mis 
erable  condition,  (the  detested  land-laws,)  and  the  radical  remedies  suggested 
therefor.  John  Dillon  was.  in  fact,  the  original  enunciator  of  those  practical 
lessons  of  agrarian  reform,  which,  five  years  later,  James  Fintan  Lalor  ex 
pounded  so  forcibly  and  clearly,  and  of  which,  more  recent  laborers  hi  the 
same  cause,  (unconsciously,  perhaps,)  think  themselves  entitled  to  the  credit. 

Dillon's  teachings  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  more  thoughtful  of 
his  readers,  while  the  personality  of  the  writer  remained  to  them  unknown, 
until  subsequently  revealed  when  the  articles  re-appeared  in  a  volume  entitled 
"The  Voice  of  The  Nation." 

The  same  may  be  said  of  Davis's  prose  contributions,  glowing  as  they 
were  with  the  fire  of  impassioned  genius.  But  the  songs  of  "  THE  CELT," 
(his  nom-de-plume,)  lit,  as  with  a  ray  from  Heaven,  the  hearts  of  his  people, 
young  and  old,  and  their  first  glance  was  invariably  turned  to  the  "Poet's 
Corner,"  to  seek,  over  the  joy-giving  signature,  a  fresh  incentive  to  patriotism 
or  love. 

It  was  to  this  newly-awakened  Ireland  that,  in  the  early  summer  of 
that  auspicious  year,  Thomas  Francis  Meagher  returned  from  Stonyhurst. 
He  left  the  College  with  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
rhetoricians  it  ever  produced.  In  English  composition,  also,  he  had  borne  off 
the  palm  from  all  competitors,  so  that  his  family  and  townsfolk  had  just 
cause  for  the  pride  which  they  undoubtedly  felt  hi  him,  as  they  welcomed 
him  back  to  his  home  by  the  Suir. 

It  was  at  an  ovation  given  in  Waterford  to  Father  Mathew,  shortly  after 
Meagher's  return,  that  the  young  man  gave  his  fellow-citizens  the  first  public 
proof  of  his  wonderful  oratorical  powers.  His  eulogy  on  the  great  Apostle 
of  Temperance  was  listened  to  hi  wonder  and  admiration,  and  enthusiastically 
applauded.  Thenceforth  it  required  no  prophet  to  tell  his  hearers  that  their 
young  townsman  was  destined  to  be  the  coming  orator  of  his  race  and 
generation. 

Unlike  most  young  Irishmen  of  his  position  in  society,  Meagher  did  not 
have  the  advantage  of  supplementing  his  collegiate  acquirements  by  Univer 
sity  training;  for  Trinity  College,  then  the  only  university  in  Ireland,  bora 


"  1S43."  35 

the  well-founded  reputation  of  being  "an  institution  which  tempted  Catholic 
students  to  apostacy  by  reserving  its  prizes  for  apostates." 

The  elder  Mr.  Meagher  was  then  Mayor  of  his  native  city.  He  had  the 
distinction  of  being  the  first  Catholic  Mayor  elected  in  Ireland  after  the 
passage  of  the  "Municipal  Reform  Bill''  had  opened  the  way  to  an  honor 
from  which  his  hitherto  proscribed  co-religionists  had  been  debarred  during 
the  two  preceding  centuries.  He  had  attained  that  honor  through  his  own 
intrinsic  merit  and  the  esteem  of  his  fellow  citizens ;  and  he  saw  no  necessity 
for  his  gifted  son  being  beholden  for  intellectual  advantages  to  a  university 
founded  and  supported  by  the  spoils  plundered  from  the  National  Church 
and  its  laithful  defenders,  and  which  was  known  to  be  a  hot-bed  of  bigotry 
and  intolerance;  he  preferred  that  the  young  man  should  enlarge  his  knowl 
edge  by  travel  and  personal  observation  on  the  European  Continent,  before 
adopting  a  profession  in  life. 

Accordingly,  after  a  brief  sojourn  at  home,  Meagher  set  out  on  his  con 
tinental  tour,  in  the  course  of  which  he  explored  the  beauties  of  the  historic 
Rhine,  and  spent  some  agreeable  weeks  among  the  medieval  cities  of  the 
Low  Countries,  to  which  he  was  specially  attracted. 

Though,  in  after  years,  when  among  his  most  familiar  associates,  Meagher 
was  occasionally  induced  to  relate  some  interesting  reminiscences  of  this,  his 
first  visit  to  the  Continent,  his  published  writings  contain  no  record  thereof. 
This  is  to  be  regretted,  as  his  vivid  imagination  and  wonderful  power  of 
description  would  have  a  splendid  field  for  display  in  recording  his  impres 
sions  of  these  picturesque  and  historic  regions,  and  the  important  events  of 
which  they  had  been  the  theatre. 

That  those  impressions  were  indellibly  stamped  on  his  retentive  memory 
is  evidenced  by  the  expression  given  them  in  the  most  famous  of  all  his 
speeches  —  that  which  obtained  for  him  the  glorious  appellation  of  — 

"MEAGHER  OF  THE  SWORD." 

He  returned  from  the  Continent  hi  tune  to  celebrate  his  twentieth  birth 
day,  a  month  after  which  he  participated  hi  the  great  Repeal  meeting  of 
Lismore,  (September  24th,  1843).  It  was  at  the  dinner  on  the  evening  of 
that  event  that  he  delivered  his  first  political  speech  —  in  applauding  which 
O'Connell,  clapping  him  on  the  shoulder,  enthusiastically  exclaimed  —  "Well 
done  YOUNG  IRELAND!" 

Thus  it  was  that  the  appellation  originated,  which,  subsequently,  the 
Great  Agitator  applied  as  an  epithet  of  derision  to  all  who  differed  with 


36  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

himself  on  their  country's  politics.    That  the  country  did  not  agree  with  him 
in  his  new  interpretation  of   the  term,  events  proved. 

"For  Time  at  last  sets  all  things  evenl" 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

1844—1845. 

CLONTARF   MEETING    ABANDONED.  —  THE  STATE  TRIALS.  — HOME 

RECREATIONS. 

"When  I  had  freedom — God's  leave  and  no  Queen's  pardon  —  why  did  I  not  see  more 
of  Ireland?  Why  not  have  seen  every  rock,  stream,  ruin,  glen,  cromleac,  gap,  graveyard  — 
her  mountains  —  the  broken  gates  of  her  old  towns  — the  last  remaining  stones  of  her 
monasteries  and  castles?  I  waited  to  see  the  old  land  free,  and  so  defrauded  my  youth  of  its 
Joys,  and  my  memory  of  treasures  without  price." 

From  "  Notes  on  the  Voyage  to  Australia,"  by  T.  F.  MEAGHER. 

FOR  the  two  years  succeeding  his  debut  at  Lismore,  Thomas  Francis 
Meagher  refrained  from  active  participation  in  politics.  The  muster  at  Lis 
more  was  the  last,  but  one,  of  the  "Monster  meetings"  of  1843.  That  at 
Mullagmast,  on  October  1st  being  the  last.  The  tide  of  national  enthusiasm, 
which  each  succeeding  one  of  those  popular  gatherings  had  contributed  to 
swell,  attained  its  highest  level  at  the  latter  meeting  —  where  the  "Un 
crowned  King,"  —  to  his  own  evident  gratification  and  the  spectators'  delight, 
was  formally  invested  with,  the  insignia  of  a  nation's  allegiance,  by  the 
prince  of  Irish  artists  —  Hogau. 

Never,  throughout  that  year  of  popular  ovations,  did  the  Irish  Leader 
appear  more  resolute,  or  his  devoted  followers  more  trustful  and  hopeful, 
than  when  ou  that  fated  hill,  commemorative  of  English  treachery,  they 
reiterated  their  determination  to  make  their  laud  "A  Nation  once  again." 

The  following  week,  however,  witnessed  an  occurrence  which,  eventually, 
led  to  a  change  of  policy  in  the  Leader,  and  a  corresponding  vacillation  in 
the  spirits  of  the  people. 

A  meeting,  which  was  intended  to  be  the  culmination  of  the  scries,  was 
announced  to  be  held  at  Clontarf  on  the  8th  of  October.  The  selection  of 
the  site  of  Ireland's  greatest  triumph  over  a  foreign  foe,  was  full  of  siguifi- 


1S44— 1845.— THE  STATE  TRIALS.        •  3? 

cance  to  friends  and  enemies  of  the  national  cause.  Both  parties  felt  that  a 
crisis  was  at  hand.  From  end  to  end  of  the  Island  the  popular  heart  throb 
bed  expectantly,  and  the  popular  nerves  were  strung  to  their  utmost  tension. 
Old  men  felt  as  they  did  when  awaiting  the  pre-concerted  signal  for  the 
"General  Rising"  in  '98 — (the  stoppage  of  the  mail-coaches  on  the  23d  of 
May,)  —  and  their  allusions  to  that  spirit-stirring  epoch  excited  a  kindred 
feeling  in  the  souls  of  their  eager  listeners  —  who  panted  for  the  coming 
contest,  and  felt  no  doubt  of  its  issue. 

At  last  the  eventful  Sunday-morning  arrived,  and  with  it  the  "  mail- 
coaches  from  Dublin."  They  brought  the  (anticipated)  news  —  that  the 
Clontarf  meeting  was  "proclaimed"  by  the  government;  but,  what  none  was 
prepared  for,  they  also  brought  the  humiliating  news,  that  O'Conuell,  —  not 
withstanding  his  "Mallow  Defiance"  —  had,  for  prudential  reasons,  declined 
the  challenge  he  had  provoked,  and,  —  countermanding  the  march  to  the 
Strand  of  Clontarf  —  selected,  as  the  site  of  his  coming  battle,  —  the  Four 
Courts  of  Dublin. 

This  "  change  of  front  in  the  face  of  the  enemy,"  confused  the,  hitherto, 
confiding  masses ;  but,  notwithstanding  their  sore  disappointment,  they  did  not 
then  waver  in  their  devotion  to  their  old  chief;  on  the  contrary,  they  sup 
ported  the  Repeal  exchequer  more  generously  than  at  any  previous  time, 
trusting  that,  when  those  weary  legal  contests  were  over,  and  their  leader 
free  to  carry  out  the  new  plans  sure  to  be  evolved  from  his  creative  intel 
lect  they  would,  once  more,  be  called  to  follow  him  on  the  direct  road  to 
the  goal  of  his  ambition  —  Legislative  Independence. 

To  relate  how  they  were  again  disappointed  forms  no  part  of  my  present 
purpose.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  policy  pursued  during  the  year  succeed 
ing  the  liberation  of  O'Counell  and  his  fellow-prisoners  was  not  of  a  nature 
to  enlist  the  co-operation  of  an  enthusiastic  nationalist  like  the  typical 
u  YOUNG  IRELAXDER." 

DUBLIN    DURING   THE   STATE  TRIALS. 

Meagher  spent  the  first  mouths  of  1844  in  Dublin,  attending  at  the  Queen's 
Inns  with  a  view  to  being  called  to  the  Irish  bar,  aud  participating  in  the 
gayeties  and  frivolities  which  constituted  the  main  attractions  to  metropolitan 
society,  but  in  which  one  of  his  earnest,  hearty  nature  and  exuberant  spirit 
could  find  little  genuine  enjoyment.  In  fact,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
congenial  friends,  he  held  Dublin  society  as  he  then  found  it,  in  contempt; 
for,  as  he  afterwards  expressed  himself  to  Charles  Gavan  Duffy,  in  reference 
to  the  subject:  —  "Flaunting  and  fashionable  as  I  sometimes  was,  I  thor- 


38  l&EMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

oughly  hated  Dublin  society  for  its  pretentious  aping  of  English  taste,  ideas, 
and  fashions;  for  its  utter  want  of  all  true  nobility,  all  sound  love  of  country, 
and  all  generous  or  elevating  sentiment." 

He  varied  his  pleasure-seeking  monotony  by  occasionally  attending  the 
"  State  Trials "  then  wearily  progressing  in  the  Dublin  Courts.  Did  he  do 
so  in  the  hope  of  listening  to  such  displays  of  Irish  eloquence  as  on  former 
occasions  characterized  the  trials  of  his  country's  champions,  he  was  doomed 
to  disappointment;  for,  in  the  dreary  array  of  long-drawn  legal  platitudes 
which  fell  heavily  on  his  ears  there  was  no  resemblance  to  the  fervid,  im 
passioned  pleading,  the  lightning  flashes  of  genius  that  lit  up  the  lurid  gloom 
of  stormy  "  Ninety-eight." 

The  dramas  were  essentially  different,  so  were  the  actors. 

CONCILIATION  HALL.  — SMITH  O'BRIEN. 

But  although  the  events  then  transpiring  in  the  "  Four  Courts "  were 
watched  with  deep  interest  by  all  classes,  not  only  in  Ireland  but  throughout 
the  United  Kingdom,  the  proceedings  in  "Conciliation  Hall," — a  few  hundred 
yards  further  down  the  Quays  —  were  even  more  attractive  to  the  excitable 
patriots  of  the  metropolis. 

Meagher,  as  a  matter  of  course,  attended  the  popular  meetings,  but  only 
as  a  silent  and  interested  spectator.  He  was  present  on  the  memorable  occa 
sion  that  Smith  O'Brien  made  his  first  appearance  in  the  "Hall."  His 
description  of  the  occurrence,  and  of  the  general  aspect  of  Dublin  at  the 
time,  is  so  graphically  written  and  of  such  historical  importance  that  I  give 
it  here  uncurtailed. 

"WILLIAM    SMITH    O'BRIEN." 
From  "Personal   Recollections,"  by  T.  F.  MEAGHEB. 

"The  State  trials  were  going  on.  O'Connell,  branded  as  a  conspirator, 
day  after  day  sat  in  the  Queen's  Bench,  facing  the  jury  empanelled  to 
convict  him.  The  Attorney-General  had  relieved  himself  of  his  opening  ad 
dress.  Two  days  were  occupied  in  the  work.  The  great  meeting  of  Catholics, 
at  which  I  saw  Shiel  for  the  first  time,  was  a  written  chapter  in  history. 
The  hall  of  the  Four  Courts  swarmed  with  lawyers,  politicians,  officers  of 
the  army,  attorneys,  and  policemen.  Dublin  teemed  with  people  of  every 
description.  Since  George  the  Fourth's  visit,  the  handsome  capital  of  Ireland 
had  not  sheltered  so  dense  and  excited  a  crowd.  The  English  garrison  num 
bered  ten  thousand  men.  Lord  Cardigan's  Hussars  were  stabled  in  the  Royal 
Barracks.  The  Fifth  Fusileers  were  there  also.  Several  troops  of  the  Royal 
Horse  Artillery,  with  the  First  Dragoon  Guards,  occupied  Portobello.  Three 


1X44— 184o.— THE  STATE  TRIALS.  3y 

or  four  houses  in  Ship  street  had  been  converted  into  military  quarters,  and 
rang  with  ramrods  and  spurs  from  dawn  to  nightfall.  Aldborough  House 
underwent  the  same  fate.  The  Beggar's  Bush  lodged  two  regiments  of  infantry. 
The  Pigeon-House  mounted  additional  guns.  There  were  double  sentries  on 
the  gates.  All  the  Martello  towers  from  Blackrock  to  Dalkey  Island;  from 
Dalkey  Island  round  to  Duncannon  fort;  then  round  the  bay  on  the  other 
side  to  the  Hill  of  Houth;  arid  round  that  again  to  Malahide,  and  beyond 
it;  were  set  to  rights.  A  full  complement  of  gunners  was  assigned  to  each 
of  them,  and  the  stores  replenished. 

"Paris,  during  the  days  of  the  Provisional  Government  of  February,  hardly 
exhibited  greater  excitement,  restlessness  and  enthusiasm.  Nothing  that  stim 
ulates  the  spirit  of  a  people  was  wanting.  The  theatres  were  enjoying  the  most 
allluent  season.  There  were  balls  by  the  dozen  every  night,  in  Merrion 
and  Fitzwilliam  squares,  and  all  the  other  sweetly-scented  regions  of  wealth, 
aristocracy  and  fashion.  London  reporters  and  editors  filled  every  hotel  in 
the  city.  A  numerous  stair*  from  the  Illustrated  News  were  quartered  in  the 
Imperial,  in  Sackville  street.  Repeal  orators  thundered  day  and  night  from 
platforms,  erected  in  the  name  of  some  parish  or  municipal  ward.  The  con 
tributions  to  the  Repeal  treasury  dashed  down  in  golden  torrents  from  every 
part  of  the  country.  In  the  pages  of  the  Nation,  Davis  was  appealing  to 
the  people  in  tones,  the  grandeur  and  power  of  which  far  excelled  the  writ 
ings  of  Drennan,  and  were  equalled  only  by  the  invocations  of  Grattan  to 
the  armed  patriotism  of  Ireland. 

"  It  was  at  this  moment  that  Smith  O'Brien  entered  Conciliation  Hall 
lor  the  first  time.  It  was  the  third  Monday  in  January,  1844.  The  hall  was 
densely  thronged.  Thousands  were  wedged  in  within  its  walls.  The  galleries 
curved  under  the  huge  burthen  piled  upon  them.  Blocking  up  the  windows 
and  doorways  in  every  direction,  the  crowd  shut  out  the  light.  They  had 
to  turn  on  the  gas.  It  was  a  midnight  gathering  in  mid-day.  The  indictment 
against  O'Connell  appeared  to  be  borne  out.  For  all  the  world,  it  looked 
like  a  convention  of  the  blackest  conspirators. 

"  About  one  o'clock  Maurice  O'Conuell  made  his  appearance.  Ever  a 
favorite  with  the  people,  he  was  loudly  welcomed.  Old  Caleb  Powell,  the 
junior  Member  for  the  County  Limerick,  came  next.  John  O'Conuell  followed. 
Immediately  after  him  came  O'Brien.  The  moment  he  was  recognized,  from 
the  floor  of  the  huge  hall,  from  the  galleries,  from  every  place  where  they 
stood  or  sat,  the  thousands  assembled  there  that  day,  leaped  up  with  the 
wildest  delight.  A  cheer,  such  as  one  could  hear  only  in  Ireland,  shook  the 
very  stones  of  the  building.  Again  and  again  was  it  renewed.  Again  and 
again  did  the  enormous  mass  seem  to  leap  towards  the  ceiling;  and  again 


40  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FHANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

and    again    did    it    sway   to    and   fro,   a    black    forest    bending   to   the    storm. 

"  O'Brien's  keen,  deep-set  eye  filled  with  a  beautiful  sparkling  light,  as, 
erect,  motionless,  and  dignified,  he  looked  upon  the  scene,  and  felt  himseli 
the  idol  of  a  popular  ovation.  The  truthfulness  and  loftiness  of  his  charac 
ter,  qualities  eminent  in  him  from  the  first  hour  of  his  public  life ;  the  patient 
industry  with  which  for  years  he  had  drudged  through  Parliament,  without 
any  of  that  excitement  which  the  championship  of  great  popular  principles 
so  pleasurably  kindles ;  his  personal  bravery,  established  and  made  widely 
known  by  his  bearing  on  two  memorable  occasions;  the  memories  evoked 
by  his  name  and  the  close  neighborhood  of  Clontarf ;  the  consciousness  which 
every  man  within  there  felt,  that  such  an  accession  was  of  the  utmost  con 
sequence  to  the  national  cause;  every  consideration  which  could  delight  and 
inspire  a  people,  flashed  through  those  thousands  as  he  stood  there  before 
them.  I  was  sitting  on  one  of  the  back  benches  of  the  Committee  box  at 
the  time  —  had  a  full  view  of  the  scene  —  noticed  every  emotion  O'Brien 
betrayed  —  every  incident  of  that  magnificent  welcome. 

"  The  day  he  was  sentenced  to  death  in  the  Com  t-house  of  Clonmel, 
and  he  was  brought  back  in  that  hideous  prison-van  to  the  gaol,  escorted 
by  a  body  of  Orange  constabulary  with  fixed  bayonets  and  ball-cartridge, 
and  almost  every  man  in  the  town  shrunk  back  and  cowered,  and  the  women 
alone,  filling  the  heavens  with  their  passionate  cries  of  grief  and  vengeance, 
followed  him  to  the  gatAs,  and  swore  to  be  true  to  him,  and  not  see  him 
murdered;  that  day,  as  I  sat  with  my  noble  young  comrades  in  a  low  arched 
cell  which  from  the  top  of  the  gaol  overlooked  the  street,  and  those  cries 
came  to  us  upon  the  cold  wind,  and  echoed  through  the  dismal  corridors 
and  dungeons  of  our  fortress,  I  could  not  help  calling  to  mind  the  scene  in 
Conciliation  Hall  I  have  mentioned,  and  contrast  the  tumultuous  enthusi 
asm  with  which  O'Brien  was  then  greeted  with  the  bleak  loneliness  of  the 
day  he  was  sentenced  to  death.  Did  the  contrast  occur  to  himself?  I  never 
could  bring  myself  to  ask  him.  The  question  might  have  gone  like  a  dagger 
to  his  heart.  As  it  was,  throughout  his  imprisonment  and  exile,  he  shut 
his  eyes  to  the  past,  and  with  a  noble  calmness  endured  all  that  had  befallen 
him. 

"Maurice  O'Connell  moved  him  to  the  chair. 

"  '  I  have  come  here,'  he  said,  '  to  tell  the  Attorney-General  that,  though 
not  ambitious  of  martyrdom,  if  he  wants  another  victim,  I  present  myself 
to  him.'  Then  having  haughtily  defied  the  Government,  he  spoke  exultingly  of 
the  national  spirit  which  was  rising  throughout  the  country. 

"  *  Why  are  we,'  he  exclaimed,  '  forbidden  the  name  and  rights  of  a 
cation?  The  Englishman  is  proud  of  his  country.  The  Scotchman  is  proud 


1844  — 1845.— THE  STATE  ' 


of  his  country.  The  Frenchman  thinks  there  is  no  country  in  the  worl  1 
like  his  own.  The  Circassian  has  encountered  the  colossal  power  of  Russia 
in  defence  of  his  freedom.  Shall  Ireland  be  the  only  country  in  which 
nationality  is  forbidden?' 

"The  cheers  with  which  those  manly  words  were  received  still  ring  in 
my  ears.  The  reference  to  Circassia,  up  in  arms  on  her  mountains,  beating 
back  the  plunderers  of  Poland,  sent  the  blood  of  every  man  present  flashing 
through  his  veins.  On  that  day  O'Brien  stood  before  the  only  national  assem 
bly  which  had  met  in  Ireland  since  the  Rotunda  Convention  of  the  Volunteers, 
the  stately  impersonation  of  the  proud  spirit,  patriotism  and  chivalry  of  the 
country.  On  that  day,  influenced  by  his  preseuoe,  his  sentiments  and  virtues, 
the  Association  assumed  a  more  determined  attitude  and  tone.  The  proceedings 
grew  to  be  more  deliberate,  intellectual,  and  dignified.  A  position  in  the 
future  was  asserted  for  Ireland,  loftier  than  that  which  had  heretofore  invited 
the  interest  and  called  forth  in  rapturous  anticipation  the  anthems  and  applause 
of  the  people.  Ireland  rose  from  her  bed,  and  got  nearer  to  the  sun.  Bring 
ing  to  its  service  a  cultivated  mind,  an  experience  of  many  years'  growth 
in  public  affairs,  a  calm  and  indomitable  industry,  O'Brien  purified  the  spirit 
of  the  Association,  initiated  its  governing  committee  into  wise  and  fruitful 
labors,  and  whilst  in  a  great  measure  silencing  by  his  presence  and  example 
the  vulgarities  which  had  hitherto  dishonored  it,  persuaded  into  public  action 
those  younger  minds  which  had  noiselessly  watched  until  now  the  deepening 
quickening  current  of  national  feeling. 

"That  same    day,  McXeviu*   appeared    for  the    first    time   in    Conciliation 


*  NOTE  — THOMAS  MCNEVIN,  a  young  Connaught  Barrister,  was  the  most  brilliant  and 
.popular  orator  In  Conciliation  Hall  previous  to  Mengher's  public  appearance  on  Its  platform. 
His  style  was  more  aggressive,  pungent  and  epigrammatic  than  Meagher's.  In  the  perora- 
•tion  of  one  of  his  most  eloquent  philippics,  he  electrified  his  audience  by  characterizing  — 

"  The  Flag  that  braved  a  thousand  years  "  etc.,  as 
"  The  Felon  Flag  of  England!  " 

The  "Nation"  of  that  week  adopted  the  newly  coined  epithet  as  the  caption  of  an 
.article  commencing:  — 

"Wicked  Mr.  McNevin!  Rash  Mr.  McNevin!  what  Devil  put  that  damnable  alliteration, 
that  terrible  sticking  name,  Into  your  mind?  'Felon  Flag!'  How  well  It  trips  off  one's 
tongue  — '  Felon  Flag!'  How  apt  to  use  and  easy  to  remember.  Who  will  forgit  it? 
•Felon  Flag!'  Yet,  somehow,  you  infected  us  with  your  audacity,  and  we  felt  ourselves, 
•ialf-uuconsciously,  rhyming  something  about  — 

'"The  Felon   Flag  of  Kngland!' 

Aye,  'tis  a  '  Fe  on  Fag!' — 
As  ever  waved  from   PlrateV  mast, 

Or    Itubber'n   C-vstled   crag.'" 


42  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHER. 

Hall.  The  people  cheered  him  as,  in  the  old  Catholic  Association  days,  they 
cheered  Shiel.  In  manner,  imagery,  and  voice,  the  resemblance  between  the 
orator  of  Young  Ireland  and  the  Member  for  Dungarvan  was  striking.  There 
was  the  same  richness  of  diction,  vivid  illustration,  dramatic  enunciation  and 
gesture.  Small  in  figure,  abrupt  in  his  motions,  somewhat  shabbily  dressed, 
he  had  many  of  the  imperfections  and  drawbacks,  as  well  as  many  of  the 
great  gifts  which  enobled  the  author  of  "Evadne."' 

"Hailing  tke  adhesion  of  O'Brien  to  the  national  cause,  McNevin,  with 
a  nervous  enthusiasm  quivering  through  every  limb,  and  in  sudden  flashes 
lighting  up  his  features,  exclaimed  — 

"  '  He  was  no  foreign  aristocrat.  No  Anglo-Norman-Saxon  noble.  He  was 
of  Irish  birth  and  Irish  nobility,  and  they  recognized  in  him  the  descendant 
of  one  of  the  best  and  bravest  characters  in  Irish  history.' 

"From  that  day  out  did  O'Brien  devote  himself  to  the  service  of  Ireland. 
An  arduous  service,  the  love  he  bore  the  country  sweetened  labors  which 
were  incessant,  and  reconciled  him  to  the  many  asperities  which  that  seivice 
inflicted.  Wholly  free  from  envy,  ambitious  only  of  the  success  and  fame 
of  the  movement  into  which  he  had  thrown  himself,  he  was  the  first  to 
encourage  to  great  efforts  the  gifted  minds  he  discerned  in  the  crowd  about 
him,  and  the  first  to  applaud  the  triumphs  which  signalized  those  efforts. 
Gentle,  most  kindly  and  forgiving,  he  never  permitted  a  syllable  of  resent 
ment  to  detract  from  the  dignity  of  his  demeanor,  or  ruffle  the  exquisite 
propriety  of  his  opinions,  sympathies  and  language.  Even  when  some  of  the 
Repeal  editors  sneered  at  his  integrity  in  preferring  the  displeasure  of  the 
House  of  Commons  to  a  deviation  from  a  pledge  he  had  made,  and  sought 
to  undermine  the  popularity  his  goodness  and  grandeur  had  won,  he  had 
nothing  for  them  but  quiet  regrets  and  the  kindliest  wishes.  Even  when 
these  same  gracious  gentlemen  assailed  him  violently  after  the  Secession,  im 
puting  to  an  inordinate  vanity  and  a  brainless  insubordination  the  course 
which  an  equivocal  policy  and  a  rude  dictation  alone  compelled  him  to  take, 
no  one  ever  heard  him  petulantly  or  vindictively  complain.  Even  when,  on 
the  very  eve  of  staking  his  life  in  the  last  struggle,  he  was  hooted  by 
a  malignant  rabble,  struck  treacherously  in  the  dark  in  his  native  city,  and 
ignominiously  disabled,  he  returned  to  Dublin,  calm  though  downcast  —  down- 


McNevin's  pen  was  as  fluent  as  his  tongue.  He  contributed  two  volumes  to  the  "  Lib 
rary  of  Ireland"  — "  The  History  of  the  Irish  Volunteers"  and  "The  Confiscation  of 
Ulster!"  He  also  edited  an  edition  of  "  Shiel's  Speeches! "  Mc^evln  was  passionately 
devoted  to  Thomas  Davis,  and  when  that  "  Purist  spirit  of  the  Land,"  departed,  he  was 
utterly  prostrated  by  the  calamitous  stroke,  and  never  recovered  from  the  shock. 


1844  — 1845.— THE  STATE   TRIALS.  43 

cast  at  the  thought  that  Irishmen  were  still  possessed  with  the  fanaticism 
of  faction  —  and  without  uttering  a  word  of  reproach  against  the  cowards 
who  struck  him,  or  the  more  cowardly  conspirators  who  inflamed  them, 
resumed  his  public  duties,  the  penalties  they  imposed,  the  great  perils  they 
induced  to,  and  the  sacrifices  they  inexorably  enjoined. 

"But  it  has  long  been  remarked  that  the  bravest  men  are  among  the 
most  gentle.  It  has  long  been  remarked,  that  the  most  resolute  in  purpose 
are  the  least  ostentatious  in  manner,  and  that  a  consciousness  of  being  in 
the  right  softens  the  harshest  blows,  and  preserves  a  sweetness  and  benignity 
of  temper  even  in  those  who  suffer  injustice  for  justice's  sake. 

"Concluding  his  speech  in  Conciliation  Hall,  that  day  in  January,  1844, 
Smith  O'Brien  said :  — 

" '  I  have  come  here  to  offer  you  my  services.  Abilities  I  have  not. 
But  I  have  some  experience  in  public  affairs,  a  patient  and  persevering 
industry,  and  a  resolute  Irish  heart.' " 

A  POETICAL  TOUR. 

Though,  like  most  young  Irishmen  of  his  class,  Meagher  was  an  ardent 
admirer  of  the  '"Nation,"  he  does  not  appear  to  have  formed  the  acquaint 
ance  of  any  of  its  founders  during  his  sojourn  in  Dublin  at  the  period  above 
mentioned.  It  is  probable  that  of  all  the  young  natives  of  the  Irish  metrop 
olis  who  subsequently  became  prominent  in  the  national  movement,  he  then 
counted  but  two  among  his  intimate  associates,  —  Patrick  J.  Smith,  his  fellow- 
student  at  Clongowes,  and  Richard  O'Gormau,  Jr.,  both  of  whom  continued 
his  most  attached  friends  till  death. 

That  he  did  not  meet  Mr.  Duffy  until  nearly  two  years  subsequently  to 
Smith  O'Brien's  debut  in  Conciliation  Hall,  may  be  learned  from  the  follow 
ing  passage  from  "Young  Ireland,"  in  which  the  author  refers  to  his  Munster 
tour  after  his  liberation  from  Richmond  Prison,  in  September,  1844: 

"  During  the  journey,  after  a  day's  travel  or  sight-seeing,  tea,  seclusion, 
a  volume  of  poetry  and  a  talk  prolonged  beyond  midnight,  made  a  feast 
which  had  no  need  to  envy  the  luxury  of  a  chateau.  But  the  privacy  was 
hard  to  obtain  for  a  state  prisoner  fresh  from  Richmond;  and  deputations. 
addresses,  bands,  and  the  endless  good  cheer  of  a  hospitable  race,  drew  us 
constantly  back  from  the  world  of  poetry  and  dreams.  To  win  a  few  hours' 
privacy  was  a  triumph  sometimes  bought  too  dear.  In  "YVaterford,  the  birth 
place  of  Richard  Shiel,  whilst  we  were  hastily  visiting  the  historic  places, 
the  "son  of  the  Mayor"  was  reported  at  various  points  to  be  in  search 
of  us,  but  we  exulted  in  escaping  his  pursuit;  and  only  came  to  know 
faim  two  years  later  as  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  who  will  be  longer  re- 


44  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

membered  in  "VVaterford  and  in  Ireland  than  the  orator  whose  birth-place  was 
an  object  of  such  interest  to  us  that  day." 

Verily,  in  escaping  from  the  eager  search  of  that  young  enthusiast  on 
hospitable  thoughts  intent,  the  "  Editor  of  the  Nation,"  and  his  fellow-poets 
*  "  Desmond "  and  u  Slievegullion ! "  missed  the  company  of  the  most  delightful 
guide  through  his  native  county  that  ever  expatiated  on  its  scenic  beauty  or 
spirit-stirring  history.  For,  during  the  previous  summer  months,  Meagher 
had  been  over  their  contemplated  route  from  one  extremity  of  Southern  Desi 
to  the  other,  and  could,  moreover,  have  introduced  them  to  many  a  lovely 
spot  hidden  in  the  sequestered  glens  through  which  flow  the  Blackwater's- 
tributary  streams,  or  in  the  recesses  of  the  rugged,  cloud-piercing  Comme- 
ragbs,  which,  necessarily  escaped  their  observation  as  not  coming  within  the 
scope  of  their  outlined  route  through  that  picturesque  district  —  thus  set 
down  in  the  delightful  volume  referred  to :  — 

"  Along  the  Suir  to  Waterford,  a  land  peopled  with  memories  of  every 
era  of  resistance  to  English  supremacy,  from  the  raid  of  Strongbow,  and  the 
invasion  of  Cromwell,  down  to  the  memorable  election  of  1826,  which  pre 
cipitated  Catholic  Emancipation.  By  Cappoquin  and  Lismore  through  the 
divine  valley  of  the  Blackwater,  with  a  detour  to  Mount  Melleray,  where 
the  monks  of  La  Trappe  had  established,  among  the  barren  hills  a  model 
and  museum  of  skilful  industry,  and  like  Columbanus  a  thousand  years  beforer 
were  transforming  the  wilderness  into  corn-fields  and  the  people  into  docile 
pupils/' 

In  a  letter  to  Thomas  Davis,  written  while  on  that  tour,  Mr.  Duffy  says : — 

"  Compared  to  the  peasantry  of  Kilkenny  and  Waterford,  who  are  fine,, 
vigorous  and  masculine  fellows,  your  compatriots  in  Cork  are  an  inferior 
race. 

"  At  Cappoquin  a  young  and  vigorous  priest,  (Father  Malley,t)  addressed 
the  people  in  Irish,  by  the  light  of  a  bonfire,  and  I  have  seldom  witnessed 
a  scene  fitter  for  an  Irish  "VVilkie  to  paint.  We  sailed  down  the  river  to 
Youghal." 

During  his  sojourn  at  home  in  Waterford  in  the  summer  and  autumn  of 

•The  respective  noms-de-plume  of  Denis  F.  McCarthy  and  John  O'Hagan. 

fMr.  Duffy  here  alluded  to  the  Rev.  Father  PatrlcK  Meany,  then  a  curate  In  the- 
neighboring  parish  of  Lismore,  physically  and  intellectually  a  sp  endld  specimen  of  ihe- 
Irlsh  priesthood.  His  Parish  Priest,  Dr.  Fogarty,  being  inimical  to  the  national  movement, 
the  ardent  young  curate  was  debarred  from  giving  expression  to  his  patriotic  aspirationa- 
wlthln  the  bounds  of  his  parish;  and  so,  on  all  important  occasions,  he  was  found  exhort 
ing  the  more  congenial  spirits  of  Cappoquin  — with  whom  he  was  a  special  favorite,  ilia- 
•tirrlng  speeches  were  invariably  In  Irish. 


1S44— 1845.—  THE  STATE  TEIALS.  45 

that  year,  Meagher  had  not  only  explored  all  that  district  traversed  by  Mr. 
Duffy  and  his  fellow-tourists,  but  had  varied  his  recreations  on  land  by 
occasional  excursions  on  water.  Boating  down  the  Suir  to  Passage,  Duncan- 
non,  or  Dunmore,  or  up  the  Barrow  to  Ross —  and  beyond  that  historic 
town  to  the  junction  with  the  Nore —  a  "meeting  of  the  waters"  un 
surpassed  in  Ireland  —  save,  perhaps,  by  the  junction  of  the  rivers  Bride 
and  Blackwater.  Pic-nicing  on  "  Lady's  Island "  or  Dunbrody  constituted 
another  favorite  enjoyment;  occasionally  he  sailed  to  the  mouth  of  the  Harbor, 
and,  doubling  Portally-Head,  skirted  the  perilous  rock-bound  coast  between 
that  and  the  bay  of  Tramore. 

In  most  of  those  expeditions,  he  was  accompanied  by  his  fellow-towns 
man  Thomas  TV.  Condon,  a  young  and  highly  intelligent  locksmith,  who  had 
been  his  play-mate  in  childhood,  and  continued  to  be  his  most  intimate  and 
affectionate  friend  through  life.  Condon  was  distinguished  as  one  of  the  Na 
tion's  "Thiee  Poetical  Mechanics"  —  the  other  two  being  John  J.  Frazer,  a 
cabinet-maker,  and  Francis  Davis,  ("  The  Belfast  Man,")  a  weaver. 

CORK  AND  ITS  ENVIRONS. 

During  this  and  the  following  summer,  Meagher  made  several  visits  to 
Cork,  the  society  of  which  city  he  found  much  more  congenial  to  his  taste 
than  that  of  Dublin  —  it  being  less  fastidious  and  sectarian,  and  far  more 
cordial  and  intellectual.  He  had  many  warm  personal  friends  among  the  old 
Catholic  families  of  the  mercantile  and  professional  classes  in  the  "Beau 
tiful  City," — the  Murphys,  Mahonys.  Lyons's,  Lanes,  &c.,  and  among  the 
most  intimate  were  Charles  T.  Murphy,  who  had  been  his  fellow-student  at 
Stonyhurst,  and  William  F.  Lyons, —  subsequently  well  known  in  America  as 
Captain  Lyons, —  a  distinguished  member  of  the  New  York  press,  a  true 
Irish  patriot  and  worthy  representative  of  the  "  Men  of  Forty-eight." 

It  was  in  company  with  these  and  other  kindred  spirits,  that  Meagher 
made  those  delightful  excursions  to  Bantry,  GlengarrifF,  Killarney,  &c.,  of 
•which  he  has  left  such  inimitable  narratives  in  his  "  Personal  Recollections." 

No    wonder   that    they    should   be    indellibly    impressed    on    his    memory;    no 

• 
wonder   he   should    recall    those  days  of   his  fresh  young  manhood  so  fondly 

and  regretfully.    They  were  the  "Halcyon  days"  of  his  life. 


46  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

DEATH    OF    THOMAS    DAVIS.  —  MEAGHER'S  ENTRY  INTO  POLITICAL 

LIFE. 

Ix  the  month  of  September,  1845,  a  double  blight  fell  upon  Ireland. 
Early  in  the  month  appeared  the  first  symptoms  of  that  strange  disease 
which  was  fraught  with  such  calamitous  results  to  the  physical  life  of  the 
nation,  and,  while  the  people  were  viewing  with  undeflnable  alarm  its  with 
ering  progress  through  the  land,  there  suddenly  came  the  appalling  news 
that  all  but  paralized  the  national  heart.  ''•'•Thomas  Davis  was  dead!"  The 
loving  admirers  of  the  late  John  Boyle  O'Reilly  can  conceive  some  idea  of 
the  shock  Davis's  death  gave  to  the  men  of  his  race  who  drew  hope,  inspi 
ration,  and  instruction  from  the  emanations  of  his  lofty  genius  and  loving 
heart.  Never,  until  they  lost  him,  did  they  realize  how  they  loved  him, 
or  how  indispensable  his  heaven-inspired  melody  was  to  their  intellectual 
life.  In  the  mournfully  poetic  language  of  one  of  his  most  gifted  disciples:  — 

"  The  brow  of  the  country  grew  gray  in  a  night." 

Verily,  never  was  national  minstrel  so  poignantly  and  universally  mourned; 
and  never  were  such  garlands  of  poesy  laid  by  cotemporary  bards  upon  a 
brother's  bier,  as  those  that  sprang  spontaneously  from  the  bruised  hearts 
of  his  bereaved  associates  —  who,  in  their  desolation,  felt  as  — 

"  Sheep  without  a  shepherd  when  the  snow  shuts  out  the   sky." 

It  was  in  this  period  of  universal  national  despondency  that  Meagher 
made  his  first  public  appearance  on  the  platform  of  Conciliation  Hall  —  his 
mission  there  to  contribute  the  first  full-blown  blossom  of  his  genius  as  a 
heart-offering  on  the  grave  of  "  his  Prophet  and  his  Guide,"  and  to  devote 
his  life  and  energies  to  the  cause  of  which  the  dead  patriot  was  his  ideal 
representative  and  expounder;  the  man  "whose  services  excited  the  youth 
of  the  country  to  generous  purposes  and  lofty  deeds,  and  consoled  the  old 
patriots  in  their  progress  to  the  grave." 

I  much  regret  my  inability  to  procure  a  full  copy  of  this  most  feeling 
and  beautiful  eulogy  for  insertion  here.  Its  peroration  contained  the  follow 
ing  reference  to  the  duty  of  liberated  Ireland  to  Thomas  Davis :  — 

u  In  the  day  of  victory,  towards  which  he  had  so  often  looked  with  a 
panting  heart  and  a  glowing  soul,  they  will  beckon  us  to  the  grave,  bid  us 
pluck  a  laurel  from  the  nation's  brow,  and  plant  it  on  his  tomb." 

Almost  contemporaneous  with  Meagher's  accession  to  Conciliation  Hall 
was  that  of  his  friend  and  comrade  Richard  O'Gorman.  then  a  most  cracefu7 


MEAGHER'S  ENTRY  INTO  POLITICAL  LIFE.  47 

and  eloquent  public  speaker,   and  now,  beyond  all  question,   the  greatest   liv 
ing  orator  of  his  race  at  either  side  of  the  Atlantic.* 

Two  other  most  distinguished  accessions  to  the  national  cause  immedi 
ately  after  Davis's  death,  were  John  Mitchell  and  his  bosom  friend,  Thomas 
Devin  Keilly.  But  their  influence  on  public  opinion  was  manifested,  not  from 
the  rostrum, —  as  was  that  of  Meagher  and  O'Gorman, —  but  through  the 
editorial  and  literary  pages  of  the  "  Nation."  Even  the  youthful  readers  of 
the  great  journal  who  mourned  Davis  most,  and  could  not  be  comforted  for 
his  loss,  were,  unconsciously,  awakened  to  revived  interest  in  the  paper  by 
the  vivid  brilliancy  and  defiant  manliness  of  the  articles  which  announced 
the  presence  of  resolute  and  accomplished  recruits  on  the  post  left  vacant 
by  their  fallen  hero.  Mitchell  almost  immediately  gained  popular  fame  and 
literary  prominence  through  his  great  historical  biography,  "  The  Life  of 
Hugh  O'Neill,"  but  Eeilly's  brilliant  abilities  were  not  universally  appreciated 
until  after  the  appearance  in  the  "  United  Irishman "  of  his  series  of  prose 
poems  on  the  Continental  Ke volution  of  '"48." 

MEAGHER  IN  CONCILIATION  HALL. 

Some  time  previous  to  Meagher's  formal  adhesion  to  the  Repeal  move 
ment,  Smith  O'Brien,  anxious  to  train  the  young  intellect  of  the  country  in 
the  practical  duties  of  legislation,  had  established  the  Parliamentary  Com 
mittee  of  the  Repeal  Association.  Meagher  was  assigned  a  place  on  that 
committee,  and  proved  a  valuable  acquisition  thereto,  attending  to  his  duties 
zealously,  and  steadfastly. 

Writing  to  hia  friend,  Condon,  of  his  occupations  at  this  period,  he 
says :  — 

"  Every  day,  from  twelve  to  five,  I  am  sitting  with  the  Parliamentary 
Committee  —  schooling  myself  in  the  practical  branches  of  the  national  move 
ment.  And  when  I  am  not  thus  engaged,  I  am  sitting  with  the  Council  of  the 
Celtic  Athenaeum.  To-morrow  I  am  to  appear  at  the  Association.  I  was  most 
anxious  (I  say  so  sincerely,)  to  avoid  coming  forward  for  some  time  at  least 
but  Smith  O'Brien  insisted  upon  the  young  members  relieving  him  by  turns, 
and  I  was  forced  to  consent.  His  words  in  the  committee  on  last  Tuesday 
were,  'I  am  desirous  that  government  should  know  that  the  Association 
depends  not  upon  one  or  two  men,  but  that  in  the  worst  emergency  —  even 


*  While  these  lines  are  being  written,  the  members  of  the  New  York  Bar  are  prepar- 
tog  to  confer  a  well  deserved  compliment  on  the  venerable  and  distinguished  ex-Judge, 
who  has  reflected  such  lustre  on  their  profession  for  the  last  forty  years. 


48  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHES. 

in  the  absence  of  its  leaders  —  it  can  be  conducted,  and  will  be  supported 
by  the  young  intelligence  of  the  country.' 

"  It  was  certainly  a  nattering  compliment,  but  it  has  imposed  a  serious 
duty.  I  intend  to-morrow  to  apply  myself  to  the  policy  of  the  Association 
—  what  it  ought  to  be,  and  how  far  it  is  developed." 

The  speech  referred  to,  which  was  delivered  on  the  IGth  of  February, 
1846,  was,  like  nearly  all  his  best  efforts,  carefully  prepared.  But  it  was 
not  so  much  to  the  matter  of  his  speeches,  or  the  beautiful  and  glowing 
imagery  in  which  they  were  clothed,  as  to  the  fervor  of  conviction. —  the 
intense  earnestness  with  which  they  were  delivered,  and  which  was  conveyed 
as  by  an  electric  spark  to  the  hearts  of  his  spell-bound  audience  —  that  their 
great  effect  was  due.  I  have  heard  one  of  his  enthusiastic  admirers  assert 
that,  "  there  was  more  persuasive  eloquence  in  the  shake  of  Meagher's  fore 
finger,  than  in  the  most  elaborate  speeches  of  other  conspicuous  orators  of  the 
period."  And  he  was  not  as  exaggerative  as  his  words  seem  to  imply;  for 
thousands  who  have  felt  the  influence  of  the  "  Young  Tribune's"  personal 
magnetism  would,  unqualifiedly,  agree  with  him. 

The  following  is  the  first  of  his  Repeal  speeches : 

MEAGHER  ON  THE  POLICY  OF  THE  REPEAL  ASSOCIATION. 

"Sir, — We  have  pledged  ourselves  never  to  accept  the  Union  —  to  accept 
the  Union  upon  no  terms  —  nor  any  modification  of  the  Union.  It  ill  becomes 
a  country  like  ours  —  a  country  with  an  ancient  fame  —  a  country  that 
gave  light  to  Europe,  whilst  Europe's  oldest  State  of  this  day  was  yet  an 
infant  in  civilization  and  in  arms — a  country  that  has  written  down  great 
names  upon  the  brightest  page  of  European  literature  —  a  country  that  has 
sent  orators  into  the  Senate  whose  eloquence,  to  the  latest  day,  will  inspire 
free  sentiments,  and  dictate  bold  acts — a  country  that  has  sent  soldiers  into 
the  field  whose  courage  and  whose  honor  it  will  ever  be  our  proudest 
privilege  to  record,  if  not  our  noblest  duty  to  imitate  —  a  country  .whose 
sculptors  rank  high  in  Rome,  and  whose  painters  have  won  for  Irish  genius 
a  proud  pre-eminence  even  in  the  capital  of  the  stranger  —  a  country  whose 
musicians  may  be  said  to  stand  this  day  in  glorious  rivalry  with  those  of 
Italy,  and  whose  poets  have  had  their  melodies  re-echoed  from  the  most 
polished  courts  of  Europe  to  the  loneliest  dwelling  in  the  deep  forests  beyond 
the  Mississippi  —  it  ill  becomes  a  country  so  distinguished  and  respectable, 
to  serve  as  the  subaltern  of  England,  qualified  as  she  is  to  take  up  an  emi 
nent  position,  and  stand  erect  in  the  face  of  Europe. 

"It  is  hers  to  command,  for  she  possesses  the  materials  of  manly  power 
and  stately  opulence.  Education  is  abroad,  and  her  people  are  being  tutorei 


ME AG HERS  ENTRY  INTO  POLITICAL  LIFE.  49 

in  the  arts  and  virtues  of  an  enlightened  nationhood.    They  are  being  taught 
how    to    enjoy,  and   how   to   preserve,  the  beatitude  of  freedom.    A  spirit  of 
brotherhood   is    alive,   and   breathing   through    the    land.    Old    antipathies    are 
losing  ground  —  traditional  distinctions  of  sect  and  party  are  being  now  effaced. 
Irrespective  of  descent  or  creed,  we  begin    at  last  to  appreciate  the  abilities 
and    virtues    of   all    our    fellow-countrymen.    We    now  look  into  history  with 
the  generous  pride  of  the  nationalist,  not  with  the  cramped  prejudice  of  the 
partizan.    We    do    homage    to    Irish    valor,   whether  it  conquers  on  the  walls 
of  Derry,   or   capitulates  with   honor  before  the  ramparts  of  Limerick  —  and, 
sir,  we  award  the  laurel  to  Irish  genius,  whether  it  has  lit  its  flame  within 
the   walls    of    old    Trinity,    or   drawn   its    inspiration   from    the    sanctuary   of 
Saint  Omer's.    Acting  in  this    spirit,   we  shall  repair  the  errors,   and  reverse 
the  mean  condition  of  the  past.    If  not,  we  perpetuate  the  evil  that  has  for 
so   many  years    consigned    this    country    to    the    calamities    of    war   and    the 
infirmaties  of  vassalage.     'We  must  tolerate  each  other,'  said  Henry  Grattan, 
the  inspired  preacher  of  Irish  nationality  —  he  whose  eloquence,  as  Moore  has 
described   it,    was    '  the   very  music    of   Freedom '  — '  We    must    tolerate    each 
other,  or  we  must  tolerate  the  common  enemy.'    After  years  of  social  disor 
der,  years    of   detestable    recrimination,   between  factions,   and    provinces,   and 
•creeds,  we  are  on  the  march  to  freedom.    A  nation  organized  and  disciplined, 
instructed  and  inspired,  under  the  guidance  of  wise  spirits,  and  in   the  dawn 
ing    light    of    a    glorious    future,   makes    head   against  a  powerful  supremacy. 
•On    the   march    let    us    sustain    a   firm,   a    gallant,   and    a    courteous    bearing. 
Let    us    avoid    all    offence    to    those  who    pass  us  by;   and,   by  rude  affronts, 
let    us    not    drive    still    further  from  our  ranks  those  who  at  present  decline 
to  join.    If  aspersed,  we  must  not    stop  to  retaliate.    With  proud  hearts,  let 
us  look  forward  to  the  event  that    will  refute  all  calumnies  —  that  will  vin 
dicate    our    motives    and    recompense    our    labors.     An   honorable    forbearance 
towards  those  who   censure  us,  a  generous  respect  for  those  who  differ  from 
us,  will  do  much  to  diminish    the  difficulties  that  impede  our  progress.    Let 
us  cherish,   and,  upon    every  occasion,   manifest  an  anxiety  for  the  preserva 
tion  of  the  rights  of  all  our  fellow-countrymen  —  their  rights  as  citizens,  their 
municipal  rights  —  the  privileges   which  their  rank  in  society  has  given  them 

—  the  position  which  their  wealth  has  purchased  or  their  education  conferred 

—  and  we  will  in  time,   ar.d  before  long,   efface  the  impression  that  we  seek 
for  Kepeal  with  a  view  to  crush  those  rights  —  to  erect  a  Church-uscendency, 
to  injure  property,  and  create  a  slave-class. 

"But,  sir,  whilst  we  thus  act  towards  those  who  dissent  from  the  prin 
ciples  we  profess,  let  us  not  forget  the  duties  we  owe  each  other.  The 
good  will  it  becomes  us  to  evince  towards  our  opponents,  the  same  should 


50  MEMOIES  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

we  cultivate  among  ourselves.  Above  all,  let  us  cherish,  and  in  its  full  integ 
rity  maintain,  the  right  of  free  discussion.  With  his  views  identified  with 
ours  upon  the  one  great  question,  let  us  not  accuse  of  treason  to  the  national 
cause  the  associate  who  may  deem  this  measure  advisable  or  that  measure 
inexpedient.  Upon  subordinate  questions  —  questions  of  detail  —  there  must 
naturally  arise  in  this  assembly  a  difference  of  opinion.  If  views  adverse  to 
the  majority  be  entertained,  we  should  solicit  their  exposition  and  meet 
them  by  honest  argument.  If  the  majority  rule,  let  the  minority  be  heard 
Toleration  of  opinion  will  generate  confidence  amongst  all  classes,  and  lay 
the  sure  basis  of  national  independence. 

'•  But,  sir,  whilst  we  thus  endeavor  wisely  to  conciliate,  let  us  not,  to  the 
strongest  foe,  nor  in  the  most  tempting  emergency,  weakly  capitulate.  A 
decisive  attitude  —  an  unequivocal  tone  —  language  that  cannot  be  construed 
by  the  English  press  into  the  renunciation  or  the  postponement  of  our  claim 
—  these  should  be  the  characteristics  of  this  assembly  at  the  present  crisis, 
if  we  desire  to  convince  the  opponents  of  our  freedom  that  our  sentiments 
are  sincere  and  our  vow  irrevocable.  Let  earnest  truth,  stern  fidelity  to 
principle,  love  for  all  who  bear  the  name  of  Irishman,  sustain,  ennoble,  and 
immortalize  this  cause.  Thus  shall  we  reverse  the  dark  fortunes  of  the 
Irish  race,  and  call  forth  here  a  new  nation  from  the  ruins  of  the  old. 
Thus  shall  a  parliament  —  moulded  from  the  soil,  racy  of  the  soil,  pregnant 
with  the  sympathies  and  glowing  with  the  genius  of  the  soil  —  be  here  raised 
up.  Thus  shall  an  honorable  kingdom  be  enabled  to  fulfil  the  great  ends 
that  a  bounteous  providence  hath  assigned  her  —  which  ends  have  been  sig 
nified  to  her  in  the  resources  of  her  soil  and  the  abilities  of  her  sous." 

That  speech  stamped  Meagher  as  "  the  orator "  of  the  national  party. 
Its  noble  sentiments  have,  ever  since,  furnished  texts  to  unnumbered  platform- 
patriots,  on  which  to  attach  their  verbose  platitudes:  they  are  shouted  out 
at  "  Conventions,"  and  re-echoed  at  "  National  Anniversaries,"  calling  forth 
plaudits  from  sympathetic  and  not  over-critical  audiences;  but  the  ring  of 
the  "silver  tongue"  is  missing.  To  paraphrase  De  Jean's  truthful  lines  ou 
Thomas  Davis:  — 

"No  (Tribune)  minstrel  again  to  his  greatness  shall  grow, 
Though  many  shall  spring  from  the  ONE  lying  low, 
Like  twigs  from  the  felled  forest-tree. 


A    CHANGE   OF  BASE.  51 


CHAPTER    X. 

A    CHANGE    OF    BASE. 

"For  contumely  and   coercion, 
For  deep  treachery  and  desertion, 
From  the  ranks  of  your  own  host  — 
'Mong  the  men  you  prized  the  most  — 
(Youth  of  Ireland)  —  stand  prepared  " 

SIANGAN. 

WHEN  those  prophetic  lines  appeared,  in  the  spring  of  1846,  the  country 
was  startled  at  their  import.  The  Irish  people  could  not  imagine  that  they 
applied  to  the  men  on  whose  guidance  they  had  so  long  implicitly  relied 
to  lead  them  on  the  straight,  though  toilsome,  road  to  national  independence. 
True,  it  was,  that,  for  some  time  past,  their  chief  leader  seemed  to  lack 
something  of  the  earnest,  confident  spirit  which  characterized  his  course  when 
making  his  triumphant  progress  through  the  island  in  1843,  — "  The  Repeal 
Year"(?). 

But  this  change  was  attributed  to  the  re-actional  effects  of  the  State  Prose 
cutions,  and  consequent  imprisonment  of  O'Connell  and  his  compatriots,  coupled 
with  the  depression  caused  by  the  recent  potato-blight.  That  their  leaders 
could,  by  any  possibility,  be  induced  to  abandon,  or  compromise  the  national 
cause,  the  earnest,  confiding  people  had  no  idea  of.  How  could  they  believe 
in  such  venal  treachery  to  themselves  and  treason  to  Ireland? 

Yet,  the  time  was  close  at  hand  when  their  dreams  of  trusting  faith 
were  destined  to  a  sudden  interruption,  and  they  were  awakened  to  a  painful 
realization  of  what  their  poet-seer  meant  by  the  warning  words  above 
quoted. 

The  Tories  had  held  the  reins  of  government  for  some  years  back,  and 
had  just  introduced  a  bill  for  the  renewal  of  the  Arms  Act  passed  in  1843. 
But  there  was  division  in  their  ranks.  The  Protectionists,  representing  the 
landlord  class,  wished  to  be  revenged  on  Sir  Robert  Peel  for  his  repeal  of 
the  Corn  Laws,  and  they  joined  the  Whigs  in  opposing  the  second  reading 
of  the  renewed  Arms  Act.  A  division  took  place  on  the  25th  of  June, 
resulting  in  the  defeat  of  the  Administration  by  a  majority  of  seventy-three. 
On  the  27th  the  Tory  ministry  resigned,  and  on  the  3rd  of  July  the  list  of 
the  new  Whig  ministry  was  published,  with  Lord  John  Russell  at  its  head. 

Two  months  previous  to  this  occurrence,   there  was  a  conference  of  Lord 


62  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

John  Russell's  parliamentary  supporters  at  his  residence  in  London.  Among 
those  who  attended  that  levee  of  the  expectant  Premier  were  O'Connell  and 
his  son  John. 

A  report  of  the  meeting  in  the  Dublin  Evening  Mail  attributed  to- 
O'Connell  the  declaration  that,  "all  he  ever  wanted  was  a  real  Union  —  the 
same  laws  and  franchises  in  the  two  countries.''* 

Mitchel,  in  the  ensuing  number  of  the  Nation  contradicted  the  assertion 
in  the  Mail,  in  his  usual  trenchant  style ;  — 

"  O'Conuell  did  not  say  this  nor  anything  like  this  —  he  neither  said  nor 
thought  it  —  and  no  Repealer,  even  if  he  were  base  enough  to  think  it,, 
would  dare  to  whisper  it  in  the  solitute  of  his  chamber,  lest  the  very  birds- 
of  the  air  might  carry  the  matter  to  an  Irish  ear.  Heaven  and  Earth! 
what  would  those  words,  in  the  mouth  of  a  Repealer,  mean?  Listen  to  us,. 
Irishmen,  and  we  will  tell  you.  They  would  mean  that  for  four  years  past 
—  at  some  thousand  meetings  —  through  five  million  throats  —  from  Tara  and 
Mullaghmast  —  from  palaces  of  Irish  kings  and  graves  of  Irish  martyrs,  Ire 
land  has  been  bellowing  forth  one  monstrous  lie  in  the  face  of  all  mankind 
and  of  God  Almighty  —  one  loud,  many-voiced  national  lie,  which  the  vales 
re-echoed  to  the  hills,  and  they  to  heaven.  .  .  In  the  meantime,  let 
the  truth  be  told :  let  us  not  pretend  to  give  up  or  postpone  Repeal,  in- 
order  that  English  ministers  may  more  readily  yield  us  that  justice  which 
they  have  delayed  as  long  as  they  could;  let  no  Repealer  dare  to  hint  that 
a  '  real  Union '  would  satisfy  us  —  let  us  avow,  and  make  all  men  clearly 
understand,  that  what  we  have  determined  to  have  now  is,  not  'Justice  to 
Ireland  or  Repeal,'  but,  '  Justice  to  Ireland  and  Repeal.' " 

*"It  greatly  simplifies  the  process  of  unravelling  a  complicated  story  1o  state  at  the 
threshold  the  result  which  the  reader  Is  expected  to  reach  at  the  close.  It  Is  like  carry 
Ing  a  torch  through  a  dim  and  tortuous  labyrinth.  The  vigilance  of  the  reader  Is  awak. 
ened,  and  he  scrutinizes  the  facts  submitted  to  him,  in  order  to  judge  whether  they  justify 
the  conclusion  they  are  Intended  to  sustain.  Let  me  state,  therefore,  distinctly,  at  the  out- 
set  that  O'Co'nell  came  to  an  understanding  with  the  new  Government  In  London,  to 
support  them  In  Parliament,  and  to  secure  the  re-election  of  their  colleagues  In  Ireland, 
and  in  return  was  reinstated  In  the  control  of  Irish  patronage  in  all  Its  branches,  as  fully 
as  he  had  enjoyed  it  when  they  were  last  In  office.  He  Immediately  set  out  for  Dublin  to 
fulfil  his  part  of  the  compact.  From  the  speeches  of  O'Brien,  Grattan  and  the  Young 
Irelanders,  It  was  certain  that  this  alliance  would  be  resisted  in  the  Association.  That  it 
should  not  be  successfully  resisted,  It  became  necessary  to  silence,  or  exclude,  the  men 
whose  opposition  was  to  be  feared.  For  this  purpose,  and  for  this  purpose  alone,  a  pledge 
was  framed,  which  rent  the  Association  Into  fragments.  It  Is  a  bitter  and  humiliating  story 
to  recall,  but  if  history  Is  to  be  of  any  service  as  a  warning,  If  Ireland  Is  not  to  run 
round  In  a  circle  of  Identical  errors  forever,  It  Is  a  story  which  must  be  unsparingly 
told."— Sir  Charles  Gavan  Duffy's  "  FOUR  YEABS  OF  IRISH  HISTORY." 


A    CHANGE   OF  BASE.  63 


The  Young  Irelanders  in  Conciliation  Hall  determined  to  treat  the  ru 
mor  of  any  compromise  with  the  Whigs  as  incredible,  and  its  consummation 
as  treason  to  Ireland.  Meagher  undertook  to  open  the  question.  He  com 
menced  by  alluding  to  the  report  that  the  Whigs  were  about  returning  to 
office:  "but,"  he  continued,  "whatever  statesmen  rule  the  empire,  the  policy 
of  the  Repeal  Association  would  remain  unchanged.  The  Whigs  counted  on 
the  apostacy  of  Repealers,  the  Conservatives  predicted  it,  but  the  people 
had  vov/ed  before  God  and  man  to  raise  up  a  nation  in  these  western 
waters,  and  to  make  it  as  free  as  the  freest  that  bore  a  flag  on  the  sea, 
or  guarded  a  senate  on  the  land.  Let  them  recede,  and  they  would  win 
the  applause  of  Whig  orators;  but  France  would  placard  them  as  cowards, 
and  America  indict  them  as  swindlers.  It  was  to  the  young  men  of  Irelandr 
the  trustees  of  its  prosperity,  the  tempters  offered  the  chalice  of  corruption. 

"'Young  men,'  said  they,  'a  long  life  is  before  you, —  the  luxuries  of 
office  and  the  privileges  of  place.  To  taste  the  former,  to  assume  the  latter, 
you  must  qualify  by  recreancy,  renounce  the  manly  duties,  reject  the  pure 
honors  of  honest  citizenship,  cease  to  be  the  unpaid  servants  of  your  coun 
try,  become  the  hirelings  of  party.  You  have  read  the  history  of  Ireland; 
disclaim  the  doctrines  of  Grattan  and  Flood;  accept  the  maxims,  emulate 
the  perfidy  of  Castlereagh  and  Fitzgibbon.  You  are  scholars,  and  have  read 
the  histories  of  Greece  and  Rome.  From  the  story  of  Athens  learn  nothing 
but  the  obedience  of  the  Helots.  From  the  chronicles  of  Rome  learn,  if 
you  like,  the  imperial  ambition  of  the  Caesars,  but  forget  the  stern  patriot 
ism  of  the  Scipios  and  the  Gracchi.  Thus  will  you  climb  to  power,  gain 
access  to  the  viceregal  table,  and  be  invited  to  masquerades  at  Windsor. 
Thus,  if  your  ambition  be  parliamentary,  will  you  qualify  for  Melborne- 
Port,  and  other  convenient  Whig  boroughs;  and  when  at  length  removed 
from  that  country  whose  wretchedness  would  have  been  an  incessant  drain 
upon  your  resources,  and  when  mingling  in  the  lordly  society  of  London, 
or  sitting  on  the  Treasury  Bench  beside  your  patrician  benefactors,  you  will 
bless  the  Government  that  patronized  servility,  and  thank  God  that  you  have 
a  country  to  sell." 

Mr.  O'Gorman  endorsed  the  speech  of  his  friend.  "  It  was  true  and  most 
opportune.  A  suspicion  was  abroad;  if  it  was  ill-founded  no  harm  was 
done  in  re-stating  the  policy  of  the  Association.  Some  such  suspicion  did 
exist,  and  this  clearly  was  the  time  to  meet  and  trample  it  down." 

Mr.  Mitchel  "agreed  in  every  syllable  Mr.  Meagher  had  spoken,  and 
thought  that  was  the  time  and  place  to  speak  it.  If  the  Repealers  were  to 
retreat  from  their  position,  and  enter  into  a  compact  oiice  more  with  English 
factions,  the  best  thing  they  could  do  was  to  shut  up  the  hall,  lock  the 


64  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHER. 

door,  go  home  to  their  respective  businesses,  and  for  ever  hang  their  head 
when  men  spoke  of  honor,  patriotism,  or  truth." 

It  was  evident  that  the  men  whose  sentiments  were  thus  boldly  enunci 
ated,  should  be  got  rid  of,  by  some  means,  before  the  proposed  compact 
could  be  carried  out,  and  no  time  was  lost  by  either  of  the  allied  leaders 
in  acting  on  that  conviction. 

Lord  John  Russell,  to  be  revenged  on  the  Nation,  first  called  the  atten 
tion  of  Parliament  to  that  paper  as  "a  journal  preaching  violence  and  social 
disorder,"  and  followed  up  his  attack,  by  vigorously  pressing  a  Government 
prosecution  against  Mr.  Duffy,  which  had  been  inaugurated  by  his  predecessor, 
six  months  before,  but  which  had  been  permitted  to  languish  ever  since. 

However,  in  spite  of  the  Government  efforts  to  secure  a  conviction,  the 
jury,  influenced  by  the  noble  speech  of  Robert  Holmes,  for  the  defence, 
failed  to  agree,  and  the  Nation  triumphed. 

O'Connell's  tactics  were  more  successful,  (for  the  time  being,)  than  those 
ol  his  colleague  in  the  campaign;  for  he  accomplished  his  purpose  of  ridding 
the  Association  of  the  opponents  to  the  Whig  alliance  by  —  what  may  be 
termed,  in  military  parlance  —  a  "flank  movement,"  combined  with  a  direct 
attack  all  along  the  line. 

The  "Dungaivan  Election"  led  to  the  first  skirmish.  When  the  list  of 
the  new  Whig  ministry  was  published  on  the  3rd  of  July,  1846,  the  name 
of  Richard  Lalor  Shiel,  member  of  Parliament  for  Dungarvan,  appeared 
thereon  as  "Master  of  the  Mint." 

As  the  most  brilliant  orator  in  the  struggle  for  Catholic  Emancipation, 
Shiel  had  a  national  reputation.  He  had  differed  with  O'Connell  on  the 
Repeal  question,  but  on  the  trial  of  his  old  leader  and  his  associates  for 
seditious  conspiracy  in  1843-44,  he  was  counsel  for  John  O'Connell.  On  the 
strength  of  his  revived  popularity  he  was  elected  member  of  Parliament  for 
Dungarvan.  On  accepting  office  under  the  Whigs  he  was  obliged  to  resign 
his  scat,  but  felt  hopeful  of  being  re-elected,  for,  although  the  majority  of 
the  voters  of  the  borough  were  ardent  Repealers,  he  was  probably  cognizant 
of  the  understanding  between  the  leaders  of  that  party  and  the  Government, 
and  apprehended  no  contest. 

The  result  showed  his  confidence  was  well-founded.  O'Connell  was  still 
•ileut  on  the  reported  compact,  and  his  reticence  tended  to  confirm  the  fears 
of  the  earnest  members  of  the  Association  that,  (in  the  words  of  John 
Dillon)  —  "Repeal  was  postponed  or  abandoned  to  Whig  promises." 

The  time  at  length  arrived  when  O'Conuell  could  no  longer  postpone 
decla'ing  his  intentions.  On  the  6th  of  July,  he  resumed  his  place  in  Con 
ciliation  Hall,  (having  returned  from  London  for  that  purpose,)  and,  while 


A    CHANGE   OF  SAKE.  f-5- 


speaking  of  the  probability  of  returning  Repealers  for  such  places  as  may 
be  "shortly  vacant,"  he  was  interrupted  by  a  "voice"  —  crying  — "  Dungar- 
ran!"  which  was  followed  by  spontaneous  cheers  from  the  meeting.  Thus 
reminded,  unmistakably,  of  the  popular  sentiment,  O'Connell  replied :  — 

"You  are  right — quite  right.  If  we  can  get  a  Repealer  for  Dungarvan 
we  will  do  it.  By  this  time  of  day  you  should  believe  me.  It  shall  be 
referred  to  the  Committee  to  take  into  consideration  the  providing  of  can 
didates  for  the  vacant  places.  If  we  can  get  Repealers  for  all  those  places, 
we  shall  of  course  do  so,  and,  if  necessary,  I  will  go  to  Dungarvan  myself. 
(Cheers).  I  will  have  the  men  of  Dungarvan  with  me.  I  will  not  oppose 
men  who  support  the  present  ministry,  unless  there  be  a  chance  that  we 
can  put  in  a  Repealer,  and  a  small  chance  will  be  enough  when  the  people 
are  on  our  side." 

The  chance  of  success  in  Dungarvan  was,  by  no  means,  "  small ; "  for, 
according  to  a  Report  published  by  the  Association,  some  months  previously, 
out  of  163  electors  in  that  constituency,  104  were  Repealers. 

When  the  Committee  met,  the  nomination  of  a  candidate  for  Duugarvan 
was  only  two  days  off.  O'Connell  thought  it  would  be  impossible  to  find  a 
candidate  at  such  short  notice.  The  Committee,  without  coming  to  any  defi 
nite  conclusion,  adjourned  to  the  following  Saturday,  and,  when  it  then  met 
Shiel  was  member  for  Dungarvan  —  having  had  a  "  walk-o\ter." 

This  result,  occurring,  as  was  evident  to  all,  with  the  connivance  or 
tacit  consent  of  the  rulers  of  the  Association,  had  a  most  disastrous  effect 
on  the  national  cause.  It  showed  the  people  that  some  form  of  alliance  had 
been  contemplated  between  their  representatives  and  the  new  administration. 
This  alliance  O'Connell  well  knew  the  earnest  nationalists  would  vehemently 
denounce  by  voice  and  pen,  on  the  platform  of  Conciliation  Hall,  and  in  the 
columns  of  the  Nation. 

To  anticipate  their  action  hi  the  national  council-chamber,  he,  at  the 
first  weekly  meeting  held  after  the  Dungarvan  election,  introduced,  what  are 
known  in  the  history  of  the  period  as  the  "Peace  Resolutions,"  with  the 
avowed  purpose  "  to  draw  a  marked  line  between  Young  and  Old  Ireland.'* 
He  supposed  that  the  men  he  was  desirous  of  getting  rid  of  would  not 
acquiesce  in  the  principle  embodied  hi  one  of  those  resolutions :  — "  that  to 
promote  political  amelioration  peaceable  means  alone  should  be  used  to  the 
exclusion  of  all  other  methods."  But  he  was  mistaken.  In  the  debate  which 
followed  the  introduction  of  the  resolutions,  Mitchel,  O'Gorman  and  Meagher 
agreed  hi  all  the  practical  portions  of  the  report  so  far  as  they  applied  to  the 
Repeal  Association,  but  they  objected  to  being  bound  to  the  theoretical  principle 
that  "  under  no  circumstances  were  men  justifiable  in  seeking  political  ameliora- 


56  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

tiong  by  other  means  than  theirs."  Meagher  declared  that,  "for  the  practical 
purposes  of  the  Association  he  was  fully  convinced  of  the  propriety  of  having 
recourse  to  none  other  than  peaceful  and  constitutional  means;  but  he  could 
not  subscribe  to  the  doctrine,  nor  could  he  consent  to  continue  a  member 
of  the  Association  if  such  were  rendered  an  indispensable  qualification,  that 
no  phase  of  circumstances,  no  contingency  could  occur  in  a  national  history 
or  in  a  national  struggle  for  liberty,  in  which  a  resort  to  physical  force 
was  justifiable. 

The  resolutions  were  adopted  by  the  meeting,  Meagher  alone  saying 
"  Xo."  O'Connell  carried  his  Report,  but  he  did  not  accomplish  his  purpose. 
The  young  men  did  not  retire;  moreover,  on  that  same  day,  they  so  expressed 
themselves  on  the  policy  pursued  at  the  -Dungarvan  election,  as  to  make 
their  retirement  indispensable  if  that  policy  was  to  be  continued  without 
protest  and  exposure.  There  could  be  no  compromise  between  the  friends 
and  opponents  of  Whiggery  in  the  Association :  if  the  former  were  to  enjoy 
the  benefit  of  their  bargain,  the  latter  must  go. 

"  Where  there  Is  a  will,  there  Is  a  way." 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE  SECESSION. 

"  The  proceedings  of  this  day  are  an  event  In  Irish  history." 

WILLIAM  SMITH  O'BRIKM. 

July  27th  and  28th,  1846,  witnessed  the  most  momentous  occurrences 
•that  ever  transpired  in  Conciliation  Hall.  They  saw  the  culmination  of  the 
long-plotted  Secession.  John  O'Counell  had  come  over  fiom  London  commis 
sioned  to  call  upon  the  Association  to  choose  between  his  father  and  the 
Young  Irelanders,  for  both  could  no  longer  remain  members.  Some  such  crisis 
had  been  expected,  and  the  hall  was  packed  to  its  utmost  capacity.  Smith 
O'Brien,  Henry  Grattan,  and  the  leading  Young  Irelanders  were  present.  So 
likewise  were  John  O'Couuell,  his  brother  Daniel  O'Connell,  junior,  and  th« 
full  force  of  Conciliation  Hall  officials.  The  Lord  Mayor  of  Dublin  presided. 

The  business  was  opened  by  reading  a  letter  from  O'Connell,  the  purport 
of  which  admitted  of  no  possible  mistake.  The  Young  Irelanders  were  to 
fee  forced  out  of  the  Association.  The  revised  resolutions  were  avowedly 


THE  SECESSION.  57 


framed  to  draw  a  line  between  Old  and  Young  Ireland,  and  that  line  was 
to  be  the  one  marking  the  inside  and  outside  of  Conciliation  Hall.  O'Brien 
endeavored  by  private  remonstrance  with  John  O'Connell  to  avert  a  crisis, 
but  without  success.  Then,  for  the  first  time,  he  took  his  side  unequivo 
cally  with  the  young  men.  At  the  public  meeting  he  spoke  with  vigorous 
sense,  dignity  and  force  :  — 

"When  he  joined  the  Association  he  had  determined  never  to  be  a  party 
to  a  counter-agency  to  that  adopted  by  O'Connell;  but  at  the  same  time  he 
could  not  undertake  to  co-operate  in  proceedings  which  he  considered  unjust 
and  impolitic.  The  Association  had  been  called  on  to  declare  that  no  cir 
cumstances  in  any  country  would  justify  the  use  of  arms  for  the  attainment 
of  any  political  amelioration ;  but  this  was  a  doctrine  to  which  he  did  not 
subscribe.  The  best  writers  on  government  had  laid  down  that  in  free  coun 
tries  there  were  many  circumstances  which  justified  a  recourse  to  arms.  It 
was  by  the  right  of  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  subject  that  the  Queen 
held  her  throne.  So  it  was  with  the  Kings  of  France,  Belgium,  Greece, 
and  Holland;  and  in  all  these  cases  the  right  had  been  sanctioned  by  the 
public  policy  and  international  law  of  Europe.  In  Ireland  in  '82,  if  the 
demand  of  the  volunteers  for  a  free  constitution  had  been  rejected,  he  believed 
such  a  right  would  have  arisen.  What  was  most  unfortunate  respecting  this 
question  was  that  it  was  purely  speculative;  he  was  not  aware  that  there 
was  a  single  person  connected  with  the  Association  who  desired  an  appeal 
to  arms  under  the  present  circumstances.  Such  an  appeal  would  be  madness 
and  wickedness,  and  neither  O'Connell  nor  any  of  his  family  could  be  more 
determined  in  resisting  it  than  he  was.  Had  he  been  informed  that  it  was 
intended  to  propose  this  test,  he  would  have  attended  the  Committee,  and 
endeavored  to  procure  a  modification  of  it.  He  was  afraid  the  tendency  of 
the  resolution  and  the  letter  read  that  day  was  to  drive  from  the  Associa 
tion  men  identified  in  opinion  with  the  Nation  newspaper.  This  was  a  mea 
sure  to  which  he  could  be  no  party.  If  there  was  any  attempt  to  cut  off 
the  Nation  from  connection  with  the  Association,  or  to  exclude  the  gentle 
men  agreeing  with  it  from  the  Committee,  he  would  find  it  impossible  to 
co-operate  with  the  Association  till  they  were  restored.  But  why  was  such 
an  alternative  necessary?  If  anything  in  violation  of  the  constitution  of  the 
Association  was  done,  let  the  individual  offending  be  dealt  with;  but  to  raise 
a  speculative  question  to  exclude  certain  persons  was  suicidal.  It  pained  him 
to  differ  in  opinion  with  the  leader  of  the  Association,  but  in  all  public 
bodies  a  reasonable  difference  of  opinion  should  be  allowed.  He  trusted  that 
the  breach  was  not  irreparable,  and  that  the  past  might  be  buried  In  a 
general  oblivion. 


58  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

"There  was  another  question  on  which  he  felt  bound  to  be  perfectly 
explicit;  the  policy  of  Kepealers  was,  in  his  opinion,  to  keep  a  distinct  na 
tional  party  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  to  support  good  measures  from 
whichever  party  they  came.  To  maintain  their  independence  they  must  not 
solicit  favors  from  the  "Government,  or.  by  accepting  them,  permit  their 
mouths  to  be  closed.  In  1834.  certain  able  and  prominent  Kepealers  —  of 
whom  the  most  distinguished  was  Mr.  Shiel  —  took  office  under  the  Whigs. 
What  was  the  result?  He  would  not  say  they  were  convinced,  but  certainly 
they  were  silenced.  If  the  Association  meant  to  encourage  such  a  system 
he  could  not  coincide  with  them.  The  State  trial  had  not  discouraged  the 
Repeal  cause  so  much  as  the  loss  of  Dungarvan.  He  trusted  nothing  would 
be  done  to  destoy  a  confederacy  the  most  powerful  that  ever  existed  for 
the  achievement  of  a  people's  liberty."* 

John  O'Connell,  in  his  reply  to  this  manly  and  straight-forward  speech, 
commenced  with  a  defence  of  the  Whig  alliance.  He  asked  —  "Was  it  in  ac 
cordance  with  Irish  generosity  to  condemn  the  Whigs  before  they  had  time 
to  show  what  they  would  do?  As  to  patronage,  places  must  be  filled  by 
men  of  education  and  acquirements;  were  they  to  be  uniformly  filled  by 
enemies  of  the  popular  cause?  Must  avowed  Repealers,  though  their  health 
and  fortunes  were  depressed,  give  the  pas  to  them?"f 

Coming  to  the  subject  of  the  Peace  Resolutions  he  said:  — 
"Look  at  the  countries  revolutionized  by  force.  Take  America;  mob  law 
prevailed,  honest  debts  were  repudiated  by  acts  of  the  legislature,  convents 
were  pillaged,  and  the  breeding  of  slaves  was  favored  and  encouraged." 
(A  distorted  and  not  over-complimentary  picture  of  the  "Hope  of  opressed 
Humanity.")  "Look  at  France;  the  press  was  shackled,  the  voice  of  public 
opinion  impeded  in  every  way,  and  one-fourth  of  the  representatives  were 
paid  servants  of  the  crown."  (Whatever  truth  may  be  in  that  statement, 
"  Public  opinion  —  with  a  musket  on  his  shoulder,"  righted  the  wrong, 
in  short  order,  in  less  than  two  years  thereafter.)  "In  Belgium  there  was 
an  infidel  party,  which,  in  case  of  a  conflict  of  the  continental  powers, 
would  betray  her  to  the  invader.  Whatever  the  consequences  might  be, 
therefore,  he  could  not  consent  to  modify  the  Resolutions.  His  father  could 
not  accept  the  aid  of  any  man  who  did  not  agree  with  them.  The  Associ 
ation  had,  of  course,  a  right  to  modify  them  to  meet  the  views  of  Mr. 
O'Brien  and  the  Young  Ireland  party,  but  that  moment  the  founder  of  the 
Association  must  retire." 


*Four  Years  of  Irish  Hiitory,  pages  227-229.  tlbld,  page  230. 


MEAGHERS  "SWORD   SPEECH." 


Soon  after  John  O'Connell  had  concluded,  the  meeting  was  adjourned  to 
next  day. 

The  adjourned  meeting  was  opened  by  the  Secretary  reading  a  letter  of 
remonstrance  addressed  to  him  by  the  Editor  of  the  Xation,  justifying  the 
policy  of  that  journal.  John  O'ConneU  made  a  lengthy  reply  to  the  letter, 
and  Mr.  Mitchell  responded  in  defence  of  the  Nation.  In  the  course  of  his 
speech  he  declared  that  "It  was  plain  to  all  the  world  the  cause  of  dissen 
sion  in  the  Hall  was  not  physical  force;  nobody  was  in  the  least  afraid  of 
physical  force,  but  many  were  mortally  afraid  of  Whiggery  and  place- 
begging. 

"Do  you  think,"  he  demanded,  "that  men,  who  had  been  one  day  beg 
ging  at  the  door  of  the  English  Minister  would  come  next  day  to  the  Hall, 
to  help  the  country  to  get  rid  of  English  Ministers  altogether?  For  his 
part  he  had  entered  the  Association,  believing  it  was  to  be  made  an  instru 
ment  for  wresting  the  country  out  of  the  hands  of  English  parties,  not  a 
coadjutor  with  either  of  them  in  perpetuating  its  degradation." 

The  climax  came  when  Meagher  came  forward  to  address  the  meeting. 
His  speech  on  the  occasion  was  the  most  famous  ever  delivered  in  that 
Hall,  as  it  was  the  last  specimen  of  genuine  eloquence  ever  heard  therein. 
Through  its  magnificent  peroration  —  the  "Apostrophe  to  the  Sword"  —  it  is 
known  to  school-boys  for  two  generations  in  the  United  States;  yet  there 
are  but  comparatively  few  who  have  had  the  opportunity  of  reading  the 
entire  address.  For  this  reason,  and  as  a  duty  both  to  the  dead  orator  and 
to  future  generations  of  his  admirers  in  both  hemispheres,  —  the  speech  is 
inserted  in  full  here:  — 

MEAGHER'S  "SWORD  SPEECH." 
DELIVERED  IN  CONCILIATION  HALL,  DUBLIN,  JULY  28in,  1846. 

"Jtfy  Lord  Mayor:  I  will  commence  as  Mr.  Mitchel  concluded,  by  an  allu 
sion  to  the  Whigs.  I  fully  concur  with  my  friend,  that  the  most  comprehensive 
measures  which  the  Whig  Minister  may  propose  will  fail  to  lift  this  country  up 
to  that  position  which  she  has  the  right  to  occupy,  and  the  power  to  maintain. 
A  Whig  Minister,  I  admit,  may  improve  the  province  —  he  will  not  restore 
the  nation.  Franchises,  tenant-compensation  bills,  liberal  appointments,  may 
ameliorate  —  they  will  not  exalt.  They  may  meet  the  necessities  —  they  will 
not  call  forth  the  abilities  of  the  country.  The  errors  of  the  past  may  be 
repaired  —  the  hopes  of  the  future  will  not  be  fulfilled.  With  a  vote  in  one 
pocket,  a  lease  in  the  other,  and  full  'justice  '  before  him  at  the  petty  ses 
sions  —  hi  the  shape  of  a  'restored  magistrate  '  —  the  humblest  peasant  may 


60  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

be  told  that  he  is  free;  but,  my  lord,  he  will  not  have  the  character  of  a 
freeman  —  his  spirit  to  dare,  his  energy  to  act.  From  the  stateliest  mansion, 
down  to  the  poorest  cottage  in  the  land,  the  inactivity,  the  meanness,  the 
debasement,  which  provincialism  engenders,  will  be  perceptible. 

"These  are  not  the  crude  sentiments  of  youth,  though  the  mere  com 
mercial  politician,  who  has  deduced  his  ideas  of  self-government  from  the 
table  of  imports  and  exports,  may  satirize  them  as  such.  Age  has  uttered 
them,  my  lord,  and  the  experience  of  eighty  years  has  preached  them  to 
the  people.  A  few  weeks  since,  and  there  stood  in  the  Court  of  Queen's 
Bench  an  old  and  venerable  man,  to  teach  the  country  the  lessons  he  had 
learned  in  his  youth,  beneath  the  portico  of  the  Irish  Senate  House,  and 
which,  during  a  long  life,  he  had  treasured  in  his  heart,  as  the  costliest 
legacy  a  true  citizen  could  bequeath  the  land  that  gave  him  birth. 

"What  said  this  aged  orator? 

"'National  independence  does  not  necessarily  lead  to  national  virtue  and 
happiness;  but  reason  and  experience  demonstrate  that  public  spirit  and  gen 
eral  happiness  are  looked  for  in  vain  under  the  withering  influence  of 
provincial  subjection.  The  very  consciousness  of  being  dependent  on  another 
power,  for  advancement  in  the  scale  of  national  being,  weighs  down  the 
spirit  of  a  people,  manacles  the  efforts  of  genius,  depresses  the  energies  of 
virtue,  blunts  the  sense  of  common  glory  and  common  good,  and  produces 
an  insulated  selfishness  of  character,  the  surest  mark  of  debasement  in  the 
individual,  and  mortality  in  the  State." 

"  My  lord,  it  was  once  said  by  an  eminent  citizen  of  Rome,  the  elder 
Pliny,  that  *  we  owe  our  youth  and  manhood  to  our  country,  but  our  declin 
ing  age  to  ourselves.'  This  may  have  been  the  maxim  of  the  Roman — it 
is  not  the  maxim  of  the  Irish  patriot.  One  might  have  thought  that  the 
anxieties,  the  labors,  the  vicissitudes  of  a  long  career,  had  dimmed  the  fire 
which  burned  in  the  heart  of  the  illustrious  old  man  whose  words  I  have 
,  eited;  but  now,  almost  from  the  shadow  of  death,  he  comes  forth  with  the 
vigor  of  youth  and  the  authority  of  age,  to  serve  the  country  —  in  the 
defence  of  which  he  once  bore  arms  —  by  an  example,  my  lord,  that  must 
shame  the  coward,  rouse  the  sluggard,  and  stimulate  the  bold. 

"These  sentiments  have  sunk  deep  into  the  public  mind.  They  are  recited 
as  the  national  creed.  Whilst  these  sentiments  inspire  the  people,  I  have  no 
fear  for  the  national  cause  —  I  do  not  dread  the  venal  influence  of  the 
Whigs.  Inspired  by  such  sentiments,  the  people  of  this  country  will  look 
beyond  the  mere  redress  of  existing  wrongs,  and  strive  for  the  attainment 
•  of  future  power. 

"A  good  government   may,  indeed,  redress   the  grievances  of   an  injured 


MEAGHEK'S  "  SWOED   SPEECH"  61 

•people;  but  a  strong  people  caii  alone  build  up  a  great  nation.  To  be  strong, 
a  people  must  be  self-reliant,  self-ruled,  self-sustained.  The  dependence  of 
-one  people  upon  another,  even  for  the  benefits  of  legislation,  is  the  deepest 
source  of  national  weakness.  By  an  unnatural  law  it  exempts  a  people  from 
their  just  duties, —  their  just  responsibilities.  When  you  exempt  a  people 
from  these  duties,  from  these  responsibilities,  you  generate  in  them  a  distrust 
In  their  own  powers.  Thus  you  enervate,  if  you  do  not  utterly  destroy, 
that  spirit  which  a  sense  of  these  responsibilities  is  sure  to  inspire,  and 
which  the  fulfilment  of  these  duties  never  fails  to  invigorate.  Where  this 
spirit  does  not  actuate,  the  country  may  be  tranquil  —  it  will  not  be  pros 
perous.  It  may  exist  —  it  will  not  thrive.  It  may  hold  together  —  it  will 
not  advance.  Peace  it  may  enjoy  —  for  peace  and  serfdom  are  compatible. 
But,  my  lord,  it  will  neither  accumulate  wealth,  nor  win  a  character.  It 
will  neither  benefit  mankind  by  the  enterprise  of  its  merchants,  nor  instruct 
mankind  by  the  examples  of  its  statesmen.  I  make  these  observations,  for  it 
is  the  custom  of  some  moderate  politicians  to  say,  that  when  the  Whigs 
have  accomplished  the  'pacification'  of  the  county  there  will  be  little  or 
no  necessity  for  Repeal.  My  lord,  thtre  is  something  else,  there  is  every 
thing  else,  to  be  done  when  the  work  of  'pacification'  has  been  accomplished 
—  and  here  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  observe,  that  the  prosperity  of  a  country 
is,  perhaps,  the  sole  guarantee  for  its  trauquility,  and  that  the  more  universal 
the  prosperity,  the  more  permanent  will  be  the  repose.  But  the  Whigs  will 
enrich  as  well  as  pacify!  Grant  it,  my  lord.  Then  do  I  conceive  that  the 
necessity  for  Repeal  \yill  augment.  Great  interests  demand  great  safeguards. 
The  prosperity  of  a  nation  requires  the  protection  of  a  senate.  Hereafter  a 
national  senate  may  require  the  protection  of  a  national  army. 

"So  much  for  the  extraordinary  affluence  with  which  we  are  threatened; 
and  which,  it  is  said  by  gentlemen  on  the  opposite  shore  of  the  Irish  Sea, 
will  crush  this  Association,  and  bury  the  enthusiasts  who  clamor  for  Irish 
nationality,  in  a  sepulchre  of  gold.  This  prediction,  however,  is  feebly  sus 
tained  by  the  ministerial  programme  that  has  lately  appeared.  On  the  evening 
of  the  16th  the  Whig  Premier,  in  answer  to  a  question  that  was  put  to 
him  by  the  member  for  Finsbury,  Mr.  Duucombe,  is  reported  to  have  made 
this  consolatory  announcement:  — 

" '  We  consider  that  the  social  grievances  of  Ireland  are  those  which  are 
most  prominent  —  and  to  which  it  is  most  likely  to  be  in  our  power  to 
aft'ord,  not  a  complete  and  immediate  remedy,  but  some  remecy,  some  kind 
of  improvement,  so  that  some  kind  of  hope  may  be  entertained  that,  some 
ten  or  twelve  years  hence,  the  country  will,  by  the  measures  we  undertake, 
;be  in  a  far  better  state  with  respect  to  the  frightful  destitution  and  misery 


62  MEMOIES  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAQHER. 

which  now  prevails  in  that  country.  We  have  that  practical  object  iii  view.' 
"After  that  most  consolatory  announcement,  my  lord,  let  those  who- 
have  the  patience  of  Job  and  the  poverty  of  Lazarus,  continue  in  good  faith 
4 to  wait  on  Providence  and  the  Whigs' — continue  to  entertain  'some  kind  of 
hope'  that  if  not  'a  complete  and  immediate  remedy,'  at  least  'some  rem 
edy,'  '  some  improvement '  will  place  this  country  in  '  a  far  better  state ' 
than  it  is  at  present,  'some  ten  or  twelve  years  hence.'  After  that,  let 
those  who  prefer  the  periodical  boons  of  a  Whig  government  to  that  which 
would  be  the  abiding  blessing  of  an  Irish  Parliament  —  let  those  who  deny 
to  Ireland  what  they  assert  for  Poland  —  let  those  who  would  inflict,  as 
Henry  Giattan  said,  an  eternal  disability  upon  this  country,  to  which  Prov- 
dence  has  assigned  the  largest  facilities  for  power  —  let  those  who  would 
ratify  the  '  base  swap,'  as  Mr.  Shiel  once  stigmatised  the  Act  of  Uniony 
and  who  would  stamp  perfection  upon  that  deed  of  perfidy  —  let  such  men 


"  Plod  on  in  sluggUh  misery, 


Rotting  from  sire  to  sire,  from  age  to  age, 
Proud  of  their  trampled  nature." 

But  we,  my  lord,  who  are  assembled  in  this  Hall,  and  in  whose  hearts  the 
Union  has  not  bred  the  slave's  disease  —  we  who  have  not  been  imperialised 
—  we  are  here,  with  the  hope  to  undo  that  work,  which,  forty-six  years 
ago,  dishonored  the  ancient  peerage,  and  subjugated  the  people  of  our 
country. 

"  My  lord,  to  assist  the  people  of  Ireland  to  undo  that  work,  I  came 
to  this  Hall.  I  came  to  repeal  the  Act  of  Union  —  I  came  here  for  nothing 
else.  Upon  every  other  question,  I  feel  myself  at  perfect  liberty  to  differ 
from  each  and  every  one  of  you.  Upon  questions  of  finance  —  questions  of 
a  religious  character  —  questions  of  an  educational  character  —  questions  of 
municipal  policy — questions  that  may  arise  from  the  proceedings  of  the 
legislature  —  upon  all  these  questions,  I  feel  myself  at  perfect  liberty  to 
differ  from  each  and  every  one  of  you.  Yet  more,  my  lord,  I  maintain 
that  it  is  my  right  to  express  my  opinion  upon  each  of  these  questions,  if 
necessary.  The  right  of  free  discussion  I  have  here  upheld.  In  the  exercise 
of  that  right  I  have  differed,  sometimes,  from  the  leader  of  this  Association, 
and  would  do  so  again.  That  right  I  will  not  abandon  —  I  shall  maintain 
it  to  the  last.  In  doing  so,  let  me  not  be  told  that  I  seek  to  undermine 
the  influence  of  the  leader  of  this  Association  and  am  insensible  to  his  ser 
vices.  My  lord,  I  am  grateful  for  his  services,  :md  will  uphold  his  just 
influence.  This  is  the  first  tune  I  have  spoken  hi  these  terms  of  that  illus 
trious  man,  hi  this  Hall.  I  did  not  do  so  before  — I  felt  it  was  unnecessary. 


MEAGIIEKS  "SWORD  SPEECH."  63 

I  hate  unnecessary  praise  —  I  scorn  to  receive  it  —  I  scorn  to  bestow  it.  No, 
my  lord,  I  am  not  ungrateful  to  the  man  who  struck  the  fetters  off  my 
arms,  whilst  I  was  yet  a  child,  and  by  whose  influence,  my  father  —  the 
first  Catholic  who  did  so  for  two  hundred  years  —  sat,  for  the  last  two 
years,  in  the  civic  chair  of  an  ancient  city.  But,  my  lord,  the  same  God 
who  gave  to  that  great  man  the  power  to  strike  down  an  odious  ascendancy 
in  this  country,  and  enabled  him  to  institute  in  this  land  the  glorious  law 
of  religious  equality  —  the  same  God  gave  to  me  a  mind  that  is  my  own  — 
a  mind  that  has  not  been  mortgaged  to  the  opinions  of  any  man  or  any 
set  of  men  —  a  mind  that  I  was  to  use,  and  not  surrender. 

"  My  lord,  in  the  exercise  of  that  right,  which  I  have  here  endeavored 
to  uphold  —  a  right  which  this  Association  should  preserve  inviolate,  if  it 
desires  not  to  become  a  despotism.  In  the  exercise  of  that  right,  I  have 
differed  from  Mr.  O'Connell  on  previous  occasions,  and  differ  from  him  now. 
I  do  not  agree  with  him  in  the  opinion  he  entertains  of  my  friend,  Charles 
Oavan  Duffy  —  that  man  whom  I  am  proud,  indeed,  to  call  my  friend — 
though  he  is  a  '  convicted  conspirator,'  and  suffered  for  you  in  Kichmond 
prison.  I  do  not  think  he  is  a  '  maliguer.'  I  do  not  think  he  has  lost,  or 
deserves  to  lose,  the  public  favor.  I  have  no  more  connection  with  the  Nation 
than  I  have  with  the  Times.  I,  therefore,  feel  no  delicacy  in  appearing  here 
this  day  in  defence  of  its  principles,  with  which  T  avow  myself  identified. 
My  lord,  it  is  to  me  a  source  of  true  delight  and  honest  pride  to  speak 
this  day  in  defence  of  that  great  journal.  I  do  not  fear  to  assume  the 
position.  Exalted  though  it  be,  it  is  easy  to  maintain  it.  The  character  of 
that  journal  is  above  reproach.  The  ability  that  sustains  it  has  won  a  Euro 
pean  fame.  The  genius  of  which  it  is  the  offspring,  the  truth  of  which  it 
is  the  oracle,  have  been  recognized,  my  lord,  by  friends  and  foes.  I  care 
not  how  it  may  be  assailed  —  I  care  not  howsoever  great  may  be  the  talent, 
howsoever  high  may  be  the  position,  of  those  who  now  consider  it  their 
duty  to  impeach  its  writings  —  I  do  think  that  it  has  won  too  splendid  a 
reputation  to  lose  the  influence  it  has  acquired.  The  people,  whose  enthusi 
asm  has  been  kindled  by  the  impetuous  fire  of  its  verse,  and  whose 
sentiments  have  been  ennobled  by  the  earnest  purity  of  its  teaching,  will 
not  ratify  the  censure  that  has  been  pronounced  upon  it  in  this  Hall.  Truth 
will  have  its  day  of  triumph,  as  well  as  its  day  of  trial;  and  I  foresee 
that  the  fearless  patriotism  which,  in  those  pages,  has  braved  the  prejudices 
of  the  day,  to  enunciate  grand  truths,  will  triumph  in  the  end.  My  lord, 
such  do  I  believe  to  be  the  character,  such  do  I  anticipate  will  be  the  fate 
of  the  principles  that  are  now  impeached.  This  brings  me  to  what  may  be 
called  the  'question  of  the  day.'  Before  I  enter  upon  that  question,  however, 


64  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

I  will  allude  to  one  observation  which  fell  from  the  honorable  member  for 
Kilkenny,*  and  which  may  be  said  to  refer  to  those  who  expressed  an 
opinion  that  has  been  construed  into  a  declaratian  of  war. 

"  The  honorable  gentleman  said  —  in  reference,  I  presume,  to  those  who 
dissented  from  the  resolutions  of  Monday  —  that  'Those  who  were  loudest  in 
their  declarations  of  war,  were  usually  the  most  backward  in  acting  up  to 
these  declarations.' 

"My  lord,  I  do  not  find  fault  with  the  honorable  gentleman  for  giving 
expression  to  a  very  ordinary  saying,  but  this  I  will  say,  that  I  did  not 
volunteer  the  opinion  he  condemns  —  to  the  declaration  of  that  opinion  I  was 
forced.  You  left  me  no  alternative  —  I  should  compromise  my  opiuion,  or 
avow  it.  To  be  honest,  I  avowed  it.  I  did  not  do  so  to  brag,  as  they  say. 
We  have  had  too  much  of  that  'bragging'  in  Ireland.  I  would  be  the  last 
to  imitate  the  custom.  Well,  I  dissented  from  those  '  peace  resolutions '  — 
as  they  are  called.  Why  so?  In  the  first  place,  my  lord,  I  conceive  that 
there  was  not  the  least  necessity  for  them.  No  member  of  this  Association 
suggested  an  appeal  to  arms.  No  member  of  this  Association  advised  it. 
No  member  of  this  Association  would  be  so  infatuated  as  to  do  so.  In  the 
existing  circumstances  of  the  country,  an  excitement  to  arms  would  be  sense 
less —  and  wicked,  because  irrational.  To  talk,  now-a-days,  of  repealing  the 
Act  of  Union  by  force  of  arms,  would  be  to  rhapsodize.  If  the  attempt 
were  made,  it  would  be  a  decided  failure.  There  might  be  a  riot  in  the 
street — there  would  be  no  revolution  in  the  country.  The  secretary,  Mr. 
Crean,  will  far  more  effectually  promote  the  cause  of  Repeal,  by  registering 
votes  in  Green  street  than  registering  fire-arms  in  the  Head  Police-Office. 
Conciliation  Hall  on  Burg-quay,  is  more  impregnable  than  a  rebel  camp  on 
Vinegar  Hill.  The  hustings,  at  Dundalk,  will  be  more  successfully  stormed 
than  the  Magazine  in  the  Park.  The  registry  club,  the  reading-room,  the 
polling-booths,  these  are  the  only  positions  in  the  country  we  can  occupy. 
Voters'  certificates,  books,  pamphlets,  newspapers,  these  are  the  only  wea 
pons  we  can  employ.  Therefore,  my  lord,  I  cast  my  vote  in  favor  of  the 
peaceful  policy  of  this  Association.  It  is  the  only  policy  we  can  adopt.  If 
that  policy  be  pursued  with  truth,  with  courage,  with  fixed  determination 
of  purpose,  I  firmly  believe  it  will  succeed. 

"But,  my  lord,  I  dissented  from  the  resolutions  before  us,  for  other 
reasons.  I  stated  the  first  —  I  now  come  to  the  second.  I  dissented  from 
them,  for  I  felt,  that,  by  assenting  to  them,  I  should  have  pledged  myself 
to  the  unqualified  repudiation  of  physical  force  in  all  countries,  at  all  times, 

*John  O'Connell. 


MEAGHEB'S  "SWOED  SPEECH."  65 

and  under  every  circumstance.  This  I  could  not  do.  For.  my  lord,  I  do 
not  abhor  the  use  of  arms  in  the  vindication  of  national  rights.  There  are 
times  when  arms  will  alone  suffice,  and  when  political  ameliorations  call  for 
a  drop  of  blood,  and  many  thousand  drops  of  blood.  Opinion,  I  admit,  will 
operate  against  opinion.  But,  as  the  honorable  member  for  Kilkenny  has 
observed,  force  must  be  used  against  force.  The  soldier  is  proof  against  an 
argument — but  he  is  not  proof  against  a  bullet.  The  man  that  will  listen 
to  reason  —  let  him  be  reasoned  with,  but  it  is  the  weaponed  arm  of  the 
patriot  that  can  alone  prevail  against  battalioned  despotism. 

"  Then,  my  lord,  I  do  not  condemn  the  use  of  arms  as  immoral,  nor  do 
I  conceive  it  profane  to  say,  that  the  King  of  Heaven  — the  Lord  of  Hosts! 
the  God  of  Battles!  bestows  His  benediction  upon  those  who  unsheath  the 
sword  in  the  hour  of  a  nation's  peril. 

"From  that  evening  on  which,  in  the  valley  of  Bethulia  He  nerved  the 
arm  of  the  Jewish  girl  to  smite  the  drunken  tyrant  in  his  tent,  down  to 
this  day,  in  which  He  has  blessed  the  insurgent  chivalry  of  the  Belgian 
priest,  His  Almighty  hand  hath  ever  been  stretched  forth  from  His  throne 
of  Light,  to  consecrate  the  flag  of  freedom  —  to  bless  the  patriot's  swordJ 
Be  it  in  the  defence,  or  be  it  in  the  assertion  of  a  people's  liberty,  I  hail 
the  sword  as  a  sacred  weapon ;  and  if,  my  lord,  it  has  sometimes  taken 
the  shape  of  the  serpent  and  reddened  the  shroud  of  the  oppressor  with  too 
deep  a  dye,  like  the  anointed  rod  of  the  High  Priest,  it  has  at  other  times, 
and  as  often,  blossomed  into  celestial  flowers  to  deck  the  freeman's  brow. 

"Abhor  the  sword  —  stigmatise  the  sword?  No,  my  lord,  for,  in  the 
passes  of  the  Tyrol,  it  cut  to  pieces  the  banner  of  the  Bavarian,  and,  through 
those  cragged  passes,  struck  a  path  to  fame  for  the  peasant  insurrectionist 
Of  Inspruck! 

"Abhor  the  sword  —  stigmatise  the  sword?  No,  my  lord,  for,  at  its  blow, 
a  giant  nation  started  from  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic,  and  by  its  redeem 
ing  magic,  and  in  the  quivering  of  its  crimson  light,  the  crippled  Colony 
sprang  into  the  attitude  of  a  proud  Republic  —  prosperous,  limitless,  and 
invincible ! 

"Abhor  the  sword  —  stigmatise  the  sword?  No,  my  lord,  for  it  swept 
the  Dutch  marauders  out  of  the  fine  old  towns  of  Belgium  —  scourged  them 
back  to  their  own  phlegmatic  swamps  —  and  knocked  their  flag  and  sceptre, 
their  laws  and  bayonets  into  the  sluggish  waters  of  the  Scheldt. 

"My  lord,  I  learned  that  it  was  the  right  of  a  nation  to  govern  herself 
—  not  in  this  Hall,  but  upon  the  ramparts  of  Antwerp.  This,  the  first  article 
of  a  nation's  creed,  I  learned  upon  those  ramparts,  where  freedom  was  justly 


66  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FBANCIS  MEAGHER. 

estimated,  and  the  possession  of  the  precious  gift  was  purchased  by  the 
effusion  of  generous  blood. 

"My  lord,  I  honor  the  Belgians,  I  admire  the  Belgians,  I  love  the  Bel 
gians,  for  their  enthusiasm,  their  courage,  their  success,  and  I,  for  one, 
will  not  stigmatise,  for  I  do  not  abhor,  the  means  by  which  they  obtained 
a  Citizen  King,  a  Chamber  of  Deputies" 

John  O'Connell  interrupted  this  thrilling  burst  of  eloquence  by  protest 
ing  that,  "  The  sentiments  Mr.  Meagher  avowed  were  opposed  to  those  of 
the  founder  of  the  Association,  and  therefore  the  Association  must  cease  to 
«xist,  or  Mr.  Meagher  must  cease  to  be  a  member  of  it.  If  the  meeting 
approved  of  these  sentiments  he  would  retire." 

That  this  champion  of  what  Tom.  Steele  designated  the  "  gorgeous  ethic 
experiment,"  had  reason  to  fear  the  effect  of  the  young  orator's  electric 
appeal  to  the  hearts  of  an  appreciative  Irish  assembly,  may  be  judged  from 
the  following  recollections  of  the  memorable  scene  by  an  eye-witness :  — 

"When  Meagher  began  to  speak,  he  was  received  with  coldness,  even 
with  rudeness;  but  he  gradually  stole  on  the  sympathies  of  the  audience. 
He  warmed  on  his  subject,  and  the  warmth  became  contagious;  until  when 
he  rose  to  the  height  of  his  theme  there  appeared  to  be  but  one  heart  in 
the  meeting,  and  it  beat  in  accord  with  the  orator.  The  enthusiasm  of  the 
people,  suppressed  for  a  time,  broke  out  at  last,  like  a  sudden  storm,  in 
bursts  of  ecstacy.  It  was  perhaps  the  greatest  speech  that  historic  hall 
ever  echoed."* 

Smith  O'Brien,  who  had  watched  the  second  day's  debate  in  silence,  now 
addressed  the  meeting  as  follows:  — 

"I  am  afraid  that  the  alternative  which  has  been  presented  to  us  by 
Mr.  John  O'Connell  is  of  such  a  nature  as  necessarily  to  compel  the  termi 
nation  of  this  discussion,  because  he  gives  us  no  other  choice  than  his 
seceding  from  the  Association,  or  closing  this  discussion.  But  I  cannot 
allow  this  meeting  to  come  to  such  a  conclusion  without  expressing  my 
opinion  that  the  course  of  argument  adopted  by  Mr.  Meagher  was  perfectly 
fan*  and  legitimate.  I  understand  we  were  invited  to  come  here  to-day  for 
the  purpose  of  considering  deliberately  whether  any  gentleman  can  continue 
a  member  of  this  Association  who  entertains  the  opinion,  conscientiously, 
that  there  are  occasions  which  justify  a  nation  resorting  to  the  sword  for 
the  vindication  of  its  liberties. 

"  Mr.  Meagher  has  distinctly  stated  that  he  joined  this  Association  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  repeal  by  peaceful  and  moral  means  alone.  But  he 

* "  Four  Years  of  Irish  History,"  page  235. 


CONSEQUENCES   OF   THE   SECESSION.  67 

does  not  consider,  nor  do  I  consider,  that  when  you  invite  us  to  a  discus 
sion  of  this  description,  we  are  precluded  from  asserting  the  opinion  which, 
after  all,  is  involved  in  the  discussion;  and  for  submitting  such  reasons  as 
we  feel  ourselves  at  liberty  to  submit  to  our  fellow-countrymen  in  vindication 
of  the  opinions  which  have  been  arraigned.  Remember  this,  gentlemen, —  and 
it  is  fit  you  should  remember  it, —  for  the  proceedings  of  this  day  are  an  event 
in  Irish  history.  You  are  charged  with  being  a  people  who  will  never  give 
fair  play  to  an  adversary.  You  are  charged  with  being  willing  slaves  to 
any  despot  who  may  obtain  the  reins  of  power  at  a  particular  moment. 
This  is  the  charge  against  the  Irish  people.  I  entertain  a  different  opinion 
of  them.  I  should  designate  as  a  calumniator  the  man  who  would  give  you 
such  a  character;  but  I  ask  you,  are  you  now  going  to  fortify,  as  far  as 
regards  this  assembly,  the  assertion  of  your  enemies,  by  putting  down  the 
man  who  is  endeavoring  calmly  and  dispassionately  to  discuss  a  question  to 
which  he  was  invited — which  he  was  compelled  to  discuss?  If  this  discus 
sion  be  terminated,  I  shall  have  the  satisfaction  of  entering  my  protest 
against  the  proceedings  which  put  down  Mr.  Meagher  on  the  present  occa 
sion."* 

Meagher  again  arose  and  attempted  to  finish  his  speech,  but  he  was, 
once  more,  interrupted  by  John  O'Connell,  who  said:  "The  question  was 
not  should  a  young  man  be  put  down?  but  should  the  young  man  put 
down  the  Association?  It  was  a  question  between  the  founder  and  certain 
objectors;  if  the  members  would  not  stand  by  the  founder,  let  them  adopt 
other  resolutions  and  another  leader." 

This  ended  it.  O'Brien  and  his  friends,  accompanied  by  a  considerable 
section  of  the  meeting,  left  the  Hall.  The  Secession  was  accomplished. 
Thenceforth  the  supporters  of  the  Whig  alliance  had  a  clear  stage  on 
which  to  carry  out  their  share  of  the  contract.  With  what  result  to  the 
country  and  themselves,  a  brief  reference  to  the  records  of  the  ensuing  two 
years  will  suffice  to  show. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

IMMEDIATE  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE   SECESSION, 

The   country  was    at  first   too   bewildered  to  comprehend  the  momentous 
influence  of   the  Secession  on  the  national  cause.     The   people  hoped  it  was 

* "  Four  Years  of  Irish  History,"  pages  238-9. 


68  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

only  a  temporary  disagreement  among  their,  hitherto,  trusted  leaders;  but 
as  time  wore  on  the  breach  became  widened,  until  at  length  it  became 
clearly  apparent  that  the  country  was  politically  divided  into  two  parties  — 
the  one  consisting  of  those  brought  up  in  O'Counell's  school  of  politics  — 
and  the  other  composed  of  those  who  imbibed  their  national  doctrine  from 
the  teachings  of  the  Nation.  In  nearly  every  parish  where  a  branch  of  the 
Association  existed,  the  division  was  manifested  —  with  more  or  less  intensity 
of  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  more  excitable  spirits,  until,  hi  the  space  of 
a  few  months,  more  than  half  of  the  Repeal  Reading-Rooms  were  closed, 
and  the  Association  itself  reduced  to  virtual  bankruptcy.  For,  although  in 
the  first  three  meetings  after  the  Secession  the  weekly  receipts  at  Concilia 
tion  Hall  amounted  to  more  than  treble  the  average  of  what  they  had  been 
for  weeks  preceding  that  event;  yet  it  was  but  a  spasmodic  effort  which 
could  not  be  maintained,  and  in  the  month  of  October  following,  O'Connell 
publicly  announced  in  the  Hall  that  the  Association  was  in  his  debt. 

The  circumstances  which  led  to  this  unexpected  revelation  were  as 
follows :  — 

When  Thomas  Davis  died,  his  admirers  resolved  on  erecting  a  suitable 
testimonial  to  his  memory.  A  committee  of  eminent  men,  of  different  polit 
ical  views,  was  constituted  to  take  charge  of  the  undertaking,  and  a  list  of 
iubscriptions  was  published  in  the  Dubin  papers  of  the  time.  Among  the 
subscribers  the  Repeal  Association  was  pledged  for  two  hundred  pounds,  to 
be  paid  when  the  committee  had  decided  on  the  form  the  testimonial  was 
to  take.  After  the  lapse  of  about  a  year,  it  was  decided  on  having  a  marble 
statue  of  Davis  executed  by  Hogan.  The  committee  then  proceeded  to  call 
In  the  subscriptions,  but  when  the  subject  was  brought  up  at  a  meeting  of 
the  Association,  O'Connell  interposed  with  the  words:  —  "You  must  be  just 
before  you  are  generous,  —  The  Association  is  in  my  debt." 

But  not  only  did  the  funds  of  the  Association  rapidly  decline  under 
John  O'Connell's  management  of  that  body,  but  several  of  its  most  respectable 
members, —  unafflliated  with  the  Young  Trelanders — absented  themselves  from 
its  meetings — being  utterly  opposed  to  identifying  themselves  with  the  course 
of  action  pursued  by  the  new  leader  in  regard  to  the  men  whom  his  intol 
erance  had  driven  away. 

Maurice  O'Connell,  the  Liberator's  eldest  and  most  gifted  son,  was  among 
the  most  distinguished  of  these  gentlemen.  He  had  been  opposed  to  the 
Secession  from  its  contemplation,  and  after  its  accomplishment  he  never 
entered  Conciliation  Hall  during  his  father's  life-tune.  Up  to  the  last  day 
of  his  own  life  he  maintained  that  all  the  trouble  was  caused  by  hia  brother 


CONSEQUENCES   OF  THE    SECESSION.  69 

John,  whose   evil   influence   over  his  father  was  exerted  for  the  gratification 
of  his  own  vanity  and  malignity. 

"It  is  a  significant  commentary  on  the  conduct  of  this  man  who  not 
only  —  "abhorred  and  stigmatised  the  sword'"  —  himself,  but  would  fain  force 
the  slavish  doctrine  on  his  countrymen,  that  he  subsequently  strutted  through 
the  streets  of  the  Irish  Capital  with  the  calumniated  weapon  clanging  at  his 
heels  — a  full-fledged  "Captain"  — of  the  "Home-Guards." 

It  need  not,  however,  excite  any  comment  to  learn  that  he  supplemented 
his  pay  as  a  brave  Militia-man,  by  that  of  Clerk  of  the  Haneper  —  a  gov 
ernment  sinecure  which  he  enjoyed  to  the  day  of  his  death  —  this  being  but 
a  sample  of  the  emoluments  derived  by  the  men  of  his  class  who  were 
parties  to  the  "Whig  compact." 

The  English  administration,  in  whose  interest  the  national  organization 
was  systematically  disrupted  and  the  national  aspirations  saciificed,  proved 
to  be  the  most  murderous  in  its  policy  of  any  that  ever  ruled  the  destinies 
of  the  Irish  people.  For,  under  its  auspices  was  inaugurated  the  cold-blooded 
destruction  of  a  gallant  race  by  the  agency  of  the  twin  plagues  of  Famine 
and  Pestilence,  which,  in  two  years,  did  more  deadly  execution  than  did  all 
the  sanguinary  wars  waged  against  the  national  existence  for  the  previous 
six  centuries.  This  is  no  exaggerated  assertion,  the  ghastly  records  of  the 
time  verifies  it  in  incontrovertible  statistics,  so  far  as  regards  the  number 
of  the  victims.  That  the  Government  was  responsible  for  their  death  the 
following  damning  facts  will  testify. 

When,  in  the  Autumn  of  1845,  the  "  potato-blight "  made  its  sudden 
appearance  and  destroyed  more  than  half  the  sustenance  of  the  Irish  people 
at  one  fell  stroke,  a  Tory  administration  was  in  power.  But  the  prompt, 
humane,  and  statesman-like  action  of  the  premier,  Sir  Robert  Peel,  was 
equal  to  the  exigency,  and,  during  his  term  of  office,  very  few,  (if  any,) 
deaths  from  hunger  occurred  in  Ireland. 

His  successor  in  office,  Lord  John  Russell,  had  full  warning  of  the 
recurring  calamity,  and,  in  the  example  set  by  the  Tory  statesman,  the 
means  of  averting  its  evil  consequences,  had  he  been  inclined  to  avail  him 
self  thereof. 

But  his  "  free-trade-in-human-lives  "  policy  tended  in  the  opposite  direction, 
and  the  caculating,  cold-blooded  political  economist,  not  only  complacently 
presided  over  the  people's  "  legal "  assassination  by  famine  and  famine-en 
gendered  fever,  but,  with  a  savagery  unmatched  by  Cromwell's,  had  his 
liveried  murderers  shoot  down  the  unarmed,  hunger-maddened  peasants,  who 
tried  to  prevent  the  food  raised  by  their  toil  from  being  shipped  by  his 


70  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

speculating    proteges    to    a   foreign    laud,   before    the  faces  of  themselves  and 
their  starving  families. 

No  Irishman  who  witnessed  those  appalling  scenes,  can  ever  forget  them, 
—  or,  from  his  heart,  forgive  those  responsible  therefor :  —  therefore,  none  such 
need  be  reminded  of  their  indiscribable  horrors.  I  recall  them  here  for  the 
information  of  a  younger  generation  —  descendants  of  the  murdered  and  expa 
triated  victims  of  English  rule  —  that  so  they  may  appreciate  the  motives 
of  the  men  who,  in  the  face  of  persecution  and  obloquy,  took  their  stand 
between  the  people  and  their  leagued  enemies ;  and,  also,  that  they  may 
cherish,  in  their  heart  of  hearts,  the  holy  and  implacable  hatred  of  the 
assassins,  until,  by  God's  justice  a  day  of  fitting  retribution  is  vouchsafed 
the  true  men  of  their  imperishable  and  unconquerable  race. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

SPERANZA"  ON  MEAGHER. 

By  no  possible  stretch  of  the  imagination  can  the  present  generation 
Conceive  the  effect  produced  by  the  "  Sword  Speech,"  on  Meagher's  youthiul 
cotemporaries  of  both  sexes,  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  Ireland. 
The  enthusiasm  it  evoked  is  indescribable.  The  pride-full  elation  of  tone  and 
spirit  with  which  it  was  read  aloud  to  admiring  groups  in  town  and  coun 
try,  for  weeks  upon  weeks  after  its  delivery,  found  sympathetic  responses 
in  the  flashing  eyes,  flushed  faces,  and  heaving  breasts  of  the  entranced 
listeners.  Old  people  felt  their  hearts  kindling  once  more,  as  if  in  the 
glow  of  the  beacon-fires  that  lit  the  hills  in  "Ninety-eight."  liemmiseences 
of  Emmet  were  recalled,  and  loving  comparisons  instituted  between  the  idol 
of  their  youthful  prime  and  the  hero  who  seemed  destined  by  Providence 
to  be  his  heir  and  his  avenger.  Even  the  most  steadfast  supporters  of 
O'Connell,  veterans  of  all  his  campaigns,  whose  faith  in  their  old  leader 
remained  unshaken,  —  and  some  of  whom  affected  in  public  to  sneer  at  the 
Secessionists  in  the  aggregate, —  were  known  to  express,  —  in  private,  —  their 
unqualified  admiration  of  Meagher's  sentiments  as  enunciated  in  that  unrivalled 
ipeech. 


"SPERAXZA"    0^  MEAGHEE.  71 

But,  if  the  masses  of  the  orator's  admirers  were  thus  spout aueously 
affected  by  the  spirit  of  his  impassioned  appeal  to  all  that  was  noble  and 
manly  in  their  nature,  his  more  enlightened  personal  friends  and  compatriots 
—  those  intellectually  qualified  to  judge  of  its  transcendant  beauties,  its  prob 
able  effects  on  contemporaneous  politics,  and  the  place  it  was  destined  to 
occupy  in  the  future  among  the  most  celebrated  orations  in  the  language,— 
were  no  less  emphatic  in  their  expressions  of  triumphant  delight.  Yet,  high 
above  them  all,  in  her  conceptions  of  the  young  orator's  mission  on  earth, 
and  of  his  glorious  career  in  the  hidden  future,  the  glowing  genius  ol 
**Speranza"  soared  in  this  Heaven-inspired  p<xan:  — 

THE  YOUXG  PATRIOT  LEADER. 

O!  He  stands  beneath  the  sun,  that  glorious  Fated  One, 

Like  a  martyr  or  conqueror,  wearing 
On  his  bro.w  a  mighty  doom  —  be  it  glory,  be  it  gloom, 

The  shadow  of  u  crown  it  is  bearing. 

At  his  Cyclopean  stroke  the  proud  heart  of  man  awoke, 

Like  a  king  from  his  lordly  down  lying ; 
And  wheresoe'er  lie  trod,  like  the  footstep  of  a  god, 

Was  a  trail  of  light  the  gloom  outvying. 

In  his  beauty  and  his  youth,  the  Apostle  of  the  Truth, 

Goes  he  forth  with  the  words  of  Salvation, 
And  a  noble  madness  falls  on  each  spirit  he  enthralls, 

As  he  chants  his  wild  paeans  to  the  nation. 

As  a  Tempest  in  its  force,  as  a  Torrent  in  its  course, 

So  his  words  fiercely  sweep  all  before  them ; 
And  they  smite  like  two-edged  swords,  those  undaunted  thunder  words, 

On  all  hearts,  as  tho'  Angels  did  implore  them. 

See  our  pale  cheeks  how  they  flush,  as  the  noble  visions  rush, 

On  our  soul's  most  dark  desolation  — 
And  the  glorious  lyric  words  —  Right,  Freedom,  and  our  Swords!  — 

Wake  the  strong  chords  of  life  to  vibration. 

Ay  —  right  noble,  in  good  sooth,  seem'd  he  battling  for  the  Truth 

When  he  poured  the  full  tide  of  his  scorn 
Down  upon  the  Tyrant's  track,  like  an  Alpine  cataract  — 

Ah !  —  such  men  wait  an  j£ou  to  be  born. 


72  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

So  he  stood  before  us  then,  one  of  God's  eternal  men, 

Flashing  eye,  and  hero  mould  of  stature, 
"With  a  glory  and  a  light  circling  round  his  brow  of  might, 

That  revealed  his  right  royal  kingly  nature. 

Lo !  he  leadeth  on  our  bands,  Freedom's  banner  in  his  hands. 

Let  us  aid  him,  not  with  words,  but  doing  ; 
With  the  marches  of  the  brave,  prayers  of  might  that  strike  and  save. 

Not  a  slavish  spirit's  abject  suing. 

Thus  in  glory  is  he  seen,  though  his  years  are  yet  but  green, 

The  Anointed  as  Head  of  our  Nation  — 
For  high  Heaven  hath  decreed  that  a  soul  like  his  must  lead, 

Let  us  kneel  then  in  deep  adoration. 

O!  his  mission  is  divine  —  dash  down  the  Lotus  wine  — 

Too  long  in  your  tranced  sleep  abiding ; 
And  by  him  who  gave  us  life,  we  shall  conquer  in  the  strife, 

So  we  follow  but  that  Young  Chief's  guiding. 

SPERANZA  (LADY  WILDE). 

Though  transfigured  in  the  light  of  the  resplendent  aureole  with  which 
the  genius  of  Poesy  has  enveloped  the  figure  depicted  in  the  foregoing 
lyric,  the  original  of  the  picture  was  recognized  by  all  who  shared  in  the 
singer's  ecstatic  admiration  of  the  young  patriot's  soul-thrilling  eloquence, 
and  in  her  glowing  hopes  of  his  future  influence  in  shaping  the  destinies  of 
their  beloved  country. 

But,  it  is  safe  to  say,  that  to  none  of  those  enthusiasts  save  the  Poet- 
Seeress  herself,  was  vouchsafed  the  mystic  faculty  of  piercing  the  veil  which 
hid  her  hero's  future  from  the  common  ken,  and,  in  oracular  words,  fore 
shadowing  the  destiny  that  awaited  him. 

When  it  is  remembered  that,  at  the  time  those  prophetic  Hues  were 
penned,  their  subject  had  not,  as  yet,  experienced  any  of  the  extraordinary 
vicissitudes  which  subsequently  befell  him,  and  which  now  serve  as  beacon- 
lights  by  which  his  romantic  career  can  be  traced  to  its  fated  termination; 
when,  in  the  reflection  of  actual  events,  the  significance  of  the  prophesy  has 
become  manifest  to  all,  one  cannot  help  giving  some  credit  to  the  belief 
held  in  pre-Christian  times  by  our  Celtic  forefathers  —  that,  "to  the  Poet 
is  accorded  that  mystic  gift  of  '  Second  Sight,'  which  reveals  coming  events 
to  his  mental  vision;"  and  as  a  corrollary  of  this  belief  we  hold  that  the 


THE  IRISH  CONFEDERATION.  73 

mantle    of    "BRIDE"  —  the    Celtic  Goddess  of  Poetry  —  never  descended  to  a 
Worthier  heiress  within  the  "Four  Seas  of   Innisfail"    than  "SPERANZA." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

FROM  THE  SECESSION  TO  THE  FORMATION  OF  THE  IRISH 
CONFEDERATION. 

The  "Rule  or  Ruin"  party  In  the  Repeal  Association,  though  successful 
In  their  object  of  forcing  the  opponents  of  their  new  line  of  policy  to  with 
draw  from  that  body,  failed  in  their  efforts  to  crush  the  organ  of  the 
malcontents.  Never,  in  the  history  of  Irish  journalism,  was  the  power  of 
an  able,  honest  and  fearless  exponent  of  public  opinion  so  signally  mani 
fested  as  by  the  Nation  during  the  critical  interval  between  the  Secession 
and  the  formation  of  the  Irish  Confederation. 

For,  during  these  six  months,  it  was  publicly  and  privately  assailed  by 
the  Association  and  its  adherents  —  lay  and  clerical;  every  species  of  calumny 
was  heaped  upon  it  and  its  editor,  his  aiders,  and  abettors.  But,  hi  ita 
battle  for  Truth  and  Right  it  triumphed  over  all. 

It  had,  from  the  first,  a  reliable,  though  widely-scattered  following  ol 
staunch  and  enthusiastic  adherents,  and  these  were  being  steadily  augmented 
by  the  more  moderate  Repealers  expelled  weekly  from  the  Association  foi 
presuming  to  remonstrate  against  the  persistent  efforts  made  in  that  body  to 
widen  the  breach  and  perpetuate  disunion  in  the  national  ranks. 

The  regular  staff  of  the  Nation  was,  at  this  time,  re-inforced  by  a  vol 
unteer  corps  of  contributors  from  the  ranks  of  the  leading  Seceders:  foi 
Smith  O'Brien  (who  could  not  bear  that  any  efficient  man  should  remaic 
idle  at  such  a  crisis,)  had  proposed  "  that  the  young  men,  instead  of  public 
meetings,  or  a  rival  Association,  should  apply  themselves  to  prepare  papers 
on  the  public  wants  and  interests  of  the  country,  and  have  them  published 
hi  the  Nation,  in  a  special  department,  and  with  the  writers'  signatures. 
The  new  department  was  named  the  " IRISH  PARTY."* 


•Four  Years  of  Irish  History. 


7-1  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAQHER. 

The  project  was  successfully  carried  out.  O'Brien,  Dillon,  Doheny, 
McCarthy,  Martin,  Mitchel  and  others  contributing  to  the  series,  and  thereby 
adding  considerably  to  the  interest  felt  in  the  Nation 

For  several  weeks  both  the  Seceders  and  the  Nation  forbore  from  retort 
ing  on  the  their  assailants;  but  at  length  forbearance  became  impossible,  for 
their  insulted  followers  throughout  the  country  would  no  longer  submit 
in  silence  to  those  reiterated  taunts  and  calumnies.  Cork  led  the  van  in 
remonstrating  against  this  course  of  action.  Limerick  followed  suit,  and 
eventually  Dublin  felt  called  upon  to  "  REMONSTRATE  "  against  the  altered 
policy  of  the  Association. 

The  Dublin  remonstrance  was  signed  by  seventy-four  Repeal  Wardens. 
over  three  hundred  members  and  a  thousand  associates,  each  name  followed 
by  the  address  of  the  subscriber.  A  deputation  holding  cards  of  membership 
was  appointed  to  present  it.  They  were  refused  admittance  to  Conciliation 
Hall.  They  requested  an  interview  with  John  O'Connell,  but  he  refused  to  re 
ceive  them.  They  sent  the  Remonstrance  by  a  messenger  to  the  Chairman  of 
the  meeting,  but  John  O'Connell  ordered  the  messenger  of  the  Association  to 
throw  it  out  of  the  door.  The  messenger  flung  it  into  the  gutter.  This 
took  place  on  the  24th  of  October,  1846. 

The  Remonstrants  lost-  no  time  in  calling  a  public  meeting  of  their 
fellow-citizens.  It  was  held  in  the  great  Hall  of  the  Rotunda,  and  was  the 
greatest  meeting  seen  in  Dublin  since  the  burial  of  Thomas  Davis.  The 
hall  had  been  decorated  for  the  occasion  under  the  supervision  of  Meagher. 
On  a  raised  platform  decorated  with  banners  of  green  and  gold,  bearing  the 
most  illustrious  names  in  Irish  history,  sat  the  leaders  of  the  new  move 
ment  and  their  most  influential  followers.  There  were  nearly  three  thousand 
persons  in  the  body  of  the  building. 

The  meeting  was  addressed  by  Dillon,  Doheny  and  Meagher,  and  also 
by  two  patriotic  Dublin  priests,  Dr.  O'Carroll  and  Father  Meehau,  both  of 
whom  eloquently  defended  the  Young  Irelanders  and  the  Nation  from  the 
charge  of  indifference  in  religion  so  malevolently  preferred  against  them. 

Meagher,  in  the  course  of  his  address,  jocularly  reminded  the  Remon 
strants  that,  in  the  contumely  with  which  they  were  treated,  by  the  new 
Dictator  of  Conciliation  Hall  and  his  obseqious  henchmen,  they  only  partici 
pated  in  a  system  of  equally  unjustifiable  insults  offered  their  compatriots 
throughout  the  country  by  the  same  disreputable  shams.  He  gave  a  few 
instances  of  their  arrogance:  — 

"  Three  Repeal  AVardens  in  Cappoquin  wrote  to  Mr.  Ray  that  they  had 
abandoned  all  hope  of  reconciliation  in  consequence  of  the  language  used  by 
Mr.  O'Connell  towards  Mr.  Smith  O'Brien.  Mr.  Ray  assured  them  of  the  delight 


THE  IRISH  CONFEDERATION.  73 

of  the  Association  in  parting  with   men    who    unquestionably  contemplated  a 
resort  to  arms. 

" '  I  am  for  freedom  of  discussion,'  says  Mr.  Shea  Lalor.  '  That  is 
physical  force,'  exclaims  the  Committee. 

•"I  am  for  the  publication  of  the  accounts,'  intimates  Mr.  Martin.  'You 
oppose  the  peace  policy,'  rejoins  Mr.  Ray. 

U'I  protest  against  place-hunting,'  writes  Mr.  Brady,  from  Cork.  'Sir, 
you  contemplate  a  resort  to  arms,'  rejoins  the  Secretary  from  Dublin. 

"He  hoped  he  would  be  excused  for  trifling  with  these  subjects,  but  it 
was  as  difficult  to  treat  them  seriously  as  to  describe  a  farce  with  sub 
limity." 

This  meeting  made  a  powerful  impression  on  the  country  at  large,  and 
one  of  the  most  affected  by  it  was  O'Connell  himself.  The  following  story 
is  reported  as  coming  from  an  eye-witness  to  the  occurrence:  — 

k'The  morning  after  the  meeting  O'Connell  sat  in  his  study  in  Merriou 
Square,  the  daily  papers  before  him;  some  friends,  lay  and  clerical  around. 
He  was  depressed.  '  Don't  mind  them,  Mr.  O'Connell,'  said  one  of  these 
friends,  'they  are  brainless  boys  —  we  will  crush  them.'  'Ah!  no,  no,'  said 
O'Connell,  '  they  are  a  powerful  party,  and  we  must  have  them  back.'  One 
of  the  friends  was  Sir  Colman  O'Loghlan.  He  seized  O'Connell's  hand,  '  Com- 
missiom  me,'  said  he,  k  to  say  that  to  Smith  O'Brien.'  '  I  do,'  said  O'Connell. 
'Be  my  ambassador;  tell  him  and  his  friends  to  come  back  on  his  own 
terms.'  Sir  Colmau  delighted,  —  for  he  had  labored  hard  to  heal  the  divi 
sion, —  was  in  the  act  of  leaving,  when  John  O'Conuell  entered.  On  being  told 
of  what  occurred,  he  became  much  excited  and  exclaimed  in  au  angry 
tone,  '  No,  father,  we  cannot  unite  with  these  men ;  wretched,  ungrateful 
factionists  as  they  are,  we  will  crush  them.'  Poor  O'Connell  was  prostrated, 
he  looked  at  his  son,  then  at  Sir  Colman,  and  addressing  the  latter,  said : 
1  You  see,  Sir  Colman,  I  am  powerless ;  there  is  my  best  beloved  sou ;  you 
hear  what  he  has  said;  nothing  can  now  be  done.'" 

And  nothing  was  done,  then,  or  subsequently,  towards  uniting  the  sev 
ered  ranks  on  an  honorable  basis,  though  attempts  were  made  to  detach 
Meagher  from  his  associates,  O'Connell  himself  writing  a  personal  letter 
inviting  him  back  to  the  Association.  Meagher  respectfully  declined  the  invi 
tation  ;  stating  that,  as  he  did  not  agree  with  the  means  by  which  the 
Association  proposed  to  achieve  the  independence  of  Ireland,  he  felt  it  would 
be  acting  a  hypocritical  part  to  join  a  body  in  the  utility  of  which  he  had 
no  trust. 

The  immediate  effect  of  the  Rotunda  meeting  on  the  public  opinion  of 
the  country,  and  more  especially  on  those  who  sympathized  with  the  principles 


76  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

of  the  Young  Irelanders,  convinced  the  latter  that  it  was  advisable  to  form 
a  permanent  Association  in  which  every  true  Irishman  could  unite  for  the 
ultimate  achievement  of  their  country's  independence,  and  the  salvation  of 
her  people  from  the  horrible  fate  that  immediately  threatened  them. 

Accordingly,  an  aggregate  meeting  was  convened  at  the  Rotunda  on  the 
13th  of  January,   1847,   and  thereat  was  founded  the  Irish  Confederation. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

1847- 

THE  IRISH  CONFEDERATION.  —  THE  FAMINE. 

THE  first  meeting  of  the  new  Association  was  presided  over  by  John 
Shea  Lalor.  John  Dillon  and  Charles  G:ivan  Duffy  were  the  honorary  Secre 
taries.  The  speakers  were  William  Smith  O'Brien,  M.  J.  Barry,  Richard 
O'Gorman,  Jun.,  John  Mitchel,  Francis  Comyn,  T.  F.  Meagher,  Michael 
Doheny,  John  Martin,  T.  D.  Magee,  James  Haughton,  and  Mr.  Kelly. 

The  speeches  were  characterized  by  a  spirit  of  amity  and  generous  for 
bearance  befitting  men  whose  object  was  to  unite  many,  hitherto  hostile 
classes  into  an  earnest  effort  for  the  restoration  of  their  country's  nationality. 
There  were  no  attacks  on  any  party.  The  rules  had  been  carefully  prepared, 
and  submitted  to  an  eminent  legal  authority  —  Jonathan  Henn,  Q.  C.,  —  who 
pronounced  them  to  be  legal  and  sufficient.  They  were  embodied  in  the 
following 

RESOLUTIONS: 

"1st.  —  That  Domestic  Legislation  is  now,  and  it  has  been  for  forty-six 
years,  the  great  and  urgent  want,  as  well  as  the  inalienable  right,  of  the 
Irish  Nation;  and  that  the  helpless  and  dependent  condition  of  Ireland  under 
the  calamity  of  this  present  season  has  made  that  necessity  more  apparent 
and  more  imperative. 

"2nd.  —  That  circumstances  having  rendered  it  impossible  for  us  to  co6p- 
erate  as  members  with  the  existing  Association,  which  was  instituted  to 
•eek  this  great  national  object,  it  becomes  our  duty  to  make  for  ourselves 


THE  IRISH   CONFEDERATION.— THE  FAMINE.  77 

a  separate  sphere  of  activity  in  which  we  may  humbly  strive  for  our  coun 
try's  independence  in  the  way  that  seems  to  us  best  suited  to  attain  it. 
But  we  desire  to  have  it  clearly  understood  that  hi  taking  this  step  we 
disclaim  all  antagonism  to  the  Association  already  in  existence,  to  which 
we  wish  success  in  every  honest  effort  it  may  make  in  furtherance  of 
Repeal. 

•'3d.  —  That  a  society  be  now  formed  under  the  title  of  'The  Irish 
Confederation,'  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  our  national  interests,  and 
obtaining  the  Legislative  independence  of  Ireland,  by  the  force  of  opinion, 
by  the  combination  of  all  classes  of  Irishmen,  and  by  the  exercise  of  all 
the  political,  social,  and  moral  influences  within  our  reach. 

"4th.  —  That  a  Council  be  appointed,  to  be  called  the  'Council  of  the 
Irish  Confederation,'  to  conduct  the  business  and  promote  the  objects  of  the 
Society ;  to  consist  of  the  under  mentioned  gentlemen  as  original  members, 
with  power  to  add  to  their  numbers.  This  Council  to  be  empowered  to 
make  By-Laws,  to  admit  members,  and  to  call  general  meetings  of  the 
Society  at  such  periods  as  shall  seem  expedient. 

PROPOSED  COUNCIL. 

William  Smith  O'Brien,  M.  P.  Richard  O'Gorman,  Jr.,  barrister. 

John  Shea  Lalor,  J.  P.,  Gurteenroe.  P.  Murphy,  M.  D.,  Liverpool. 

John  B.  Dillon,  barrister.  Michael  Doheny,  barrister. 

Francis  Comyn,  J.  P.,  Woodstock.  James  Cantwell. 

John  E.  Pigot,  barrister.  Joseph  Duffy,  M.  D.,  Finglas. 

Robert  Orr,  Bray  Lodge.  T.  B.  McManus,  Liverpool. 

John  Mitchel.  Michael  Crean. 
Luke  Shea,  J.  P.,  the  Rennies,  Co.  Cork.  Michael  R.  O'Farrell,  barrister. 

Robert  Cane,  M.  D.,  J.  P.,  Kilkenny.  Martin  McDermott,  architect. 

Charles  Gavan  Duffy,  T.  C.,  barrister.  C.  H.  West,  M.  D. 

Wm.  Bryan,  Raheny  Lodge.  James  Keely. 

James  Haughton,  merchant.  Isaac  Varian,  Cork. 

Richard  O'Gorman,  Sen.,  merchant.  D.  F.  McCarthy,  barrister. 

Denny  Lane,  barrister,  Cork.  P.  J.  Smith,  Kilmainham. 

Edward  F.  Murray,  C.  E.,  London.  Charles  Taaffe,  barrister. 

Thomas  F.  Meagher,  Waterford.  Thomas  Devin  Reilly. 

John  Martin,  Lougherne.  T.  D.  McGee. 

M.  J.  Barry,  barrister.  Patrick  O'Donohue. 

George  Smith,  Liverpool.  J.  Gilligan,  late  Inspector  of  Dublin  Re- 
F.  Brady,  T.  C.,  Cork.  peal  Wardens. 

Nicholas  Harding. 


78  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAQHER. 

"  5th.  —  That  the  basis  and  essence  of  the  '  Irish  Confederation '  shall  be 
absolute  independence  of  all  English  parties;  and  that  any  member  of  the 
Council  accepting  or  soliciting  for  himself  or  others,  an  office  of  emolu 
ment  under  any  Government  not  pledged  to  effect  Eepeal  of  the  Union, 
shall  thereupon  be  removed  from  the  Council. 

"6th.  —  That  inasmuch  as  the  essential  bond  of  union  amongst  us  is 
the  assertion  of  Ireland's  right  to  an  Independent  Legislature,  no  mem 
ber  of  the  '  Irish  Confederation '  shall  be  bound  to  the  adoption  of  any 
principle  involved  in  any  resolution,  or  promulgated  by  any  speaker  in  the 
Society,  or  any  journal  advocating  its  policy,  to  which  he  has  not  given 
his  special  consent,  save  only  the  foregoing  fundamental  principles  of  the 
Society. 

"  7th.  —  That  no  subscription  shall  be  demanded  from  any  person  on 
being  enrolled  a  member  of  '  The  Irish  Confederation ; '  but  to  defray  the 
expenses  incurred  by  the  operations  of  the  Society,  voluntary  subscriptions 
of  any  amount  will  be  received. 

"  8th.  —  That  all  expenditure  shall  be  made  under  the  sanction  of  the 
Council;  before  whom  a  weekly  abstract  of  the  accounts  shall  be  laid;  and 
that  the  treasurers  shall  publish,  every  six  mouths,  the  state  of  the  accounts 
duly  audited  by  auditors  to  be  appointed  by  the  Council;  and  Richard 
O'Gorman,  Sen.,  and  James  Haughton,  Esqs.,  are  hereby  appointed  joint 
Treasurers  of  the  Confederation  for  one  year. 

"9th.  —  That  we  regard  the  measures  adopted  by  the  present  Govern 
ment  to  meet  the  unprecedented  calamity  which  has  visited  this  country  as 
ill-advised  and  insufficient,  and  that  it  be  an  instruction  from  this  meeting 
to  the  Council  now  formed  to  apply  their  immediate  attention  to  this  para 
mount  object. 

The  new  Association  applied  itself  earnestly  to  the  work  set  forth  in 
the  foregoing  resolutions.  The  young  men,  on  whom  the  principal  labor 
fell,  had  an  arduous  task  to  encounter.  In  face  of  the  terrible  calamity  that 
devastated  the  island,  the  heart  and  intellect  of  the  people  seemed  alike 
paralyzed.  They  had  become  emaciated  in  soul  as  well  as  body.  The  fearful 
alternative  of  starving  in  their  foodless  homes,  perishing  with  fever  in  a  hut 
by  the  ditch-side,  or,  (most  dreaded  fate  of  all,)  entering,  for  the  sake  of 
their  helpless  families,  the  detested  "  Pauper  Bastiles>"  where  every  drop  of 
manly  blood,  and  every  pulse  of  manly  feeling,  waa  eliminated  by  watery 
Indian-meal-gruel,  almost  banished  from  their  recollections  the  lessons  of 
morality  and  self-restraint  inculcated  by  Father  Mathew,  and  the  hopeful 
spirit  of  manly  self-reliance  instilled  in  their  souls  by  the  inspired  teachings 
of  Thomas  Davis. 


THE  IRISH  CONFEDERATION.— THE  FAMINE.  7» 

To  rekindle  this  flickering  flame  of  nationality  was  the  first  care,  as  it 
was  the  great  hope  of  this  gallant  band  of  Confessors  of  Liberty,  and  nobly 
did  they  perform  their  self-imposed  task.  In  the  course  of  that  "  Year  of 
Desolation "  they  established  "  Confederate  Clubs "  in  every  locality  through 
out  the  country  where  a  "  color-guard "  was  still  left  to  rally  their  despair 
ing  comrades  around  the  "  Old  Flag."  Over  ten  thousand  devoted  men  were 
thus  enrolled,  —  the  flower  of  their  race,  young,  intelligent,  courageous,  and 
enthusiastic.  If  it  was  not  within  the  bounds  of  possibility  for  this  "  little 
leaven"  to  "leaven  the  whole  lump,'' in  the  limited  time  allotted  them  before 
the  test  of  manhood  was  forced  upon  the  sadly  wasted  though  convalescing 
nation,  they,  at  least,  awoke  their  Motherland  from  her  death-like  trance, 
and  kept  the  sacred  fire  of  nationality  still  burning,  as  a  signal  and  encour 
agement  to  future  generations  of  Irishmen  never  to  despair  of  their  country's 
vitality  and  recuperative  powers,  no  matter  how  low  she  might  be  sunk: 
for,  surely  to  no  such  depth  of  degradation  and  debasement  can  the  nation 
ever  again  descend  as  that  from  which  she  was  lifted  through  Divine  Prov 
idence  by  the  chivalrous  exertions  of  her  loving  sons  in  that  period  of  abject 
terror  and  inexpressible  suffering;  —  of  indomitable  courage,  calm  resolution, 
and  glorious  self-sacrifice. 

The  first  and  paramount  duty  devolving  upon  all  Irishmen  at  this  crisis 
was  to  take  measures  to  preserve  the  lives  of  the  helpless  people.  For  the 
attainment  of  this  end  the  new  organization  solicited  the  cooperation  of  every 
section  irrespective  of  politics  or  creed,  the  landlords,  the  middle-class,  the 
young  Conservatives,  the  Ulster  Presbyterians;  the  representatives  of  Irish 
literature ;  and,  above  all,  of  the  great  body  of  the  people  themselves,  — 
those  who  were  most  interested  in  the  work,  and  on  whom  the  chief  portion 
thereof  was  to  fall. 

But  they  were  most  inadequately  supported;  the  spirits  of  greed  and 
intolerance  thwarted  their  efforts.  The  landlords,  who  were  primarily  respon 
sible  for  the  protection  of  the  people  from  whom  they  drew  their  income, 
were,  after  evading  then*  duty  for  month  after  month,  eventually  shamed 
into  holding  a  conference  in  Dublin  to  concert  such  measures  for  the  public 
safety  as  the  occasion  demanded. 

The  conference  consisted  of  nearly  twenty  peers,  thirty  members  of  Par 
liament,  and  over  six  hundred  other  gentlemen  of  station  representing  the 
rank  and  wealth  of  the  country,  and  embracing  men  of  diverse  creeds  and 
parties.  "The  chair  was  taken  by  the  Marquis  of  Ormonde,  the  first  resolu 
tion  was  moved  by  George  A.  Hamilton,  and  seconded  by  O'Connell;  the  last 
resolution  was  moved  by  James  H.  Hamilton,  and  seconded  by  Smith  O'Brien. 


80  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

In   all   thirty-six   distinct   propositions    were    agreed    to   without   division   or 
discussion." 

It  was  hoped  that,  at  length,  an  Irish  party,  independent  of  English 
interests  and  factions,  was  formed  to  take  counsel  together  on  Irish 
questions.  But  it  eventually  turned  out  that  the  Irish  landlords  were  not 
sincere  in  their  professions,  and  only  looked  to  their  own  special  interests, 
for  many  of  them  in  the  English  Parliament  ignored  the  measures  they 
approved  of  in  the  conference,  and  voted  against  propositions  of  a  similar 
character.  They  shifted  their  own  responsibility  for  the  lives  of  the  Irish 
people  on  the  English  Government,  and  meantime,  gave  instructions  to 
their  agents  to  press  for  their  rents,  see  that  the  harvest  was  exported  to 
England,  and  its  producers  cleared  off  their  estates  with  all  possible  dispatch; 
for  the  English  Government  had  flatly  refused  to  agree  to  the  proposition 
of  its  Irish  garrison  —  that  the  famine  should  be  treated  as  an  imperial 
calamity.  Their  flat  was  that  the  Irish,  —  landlords  and  tenants,  —  should 
bear  the  burthen  between  them.  Mr.  Roebuck,  a  Radical  English  member, 
for  once  agreed  with  a  majority  of  his  fellow-legislators,  when  he  said: 
"  Parliament,  for  three  hundred  years,  has  been  legislating  against  the  Irish 
people  in  the  interest  of  the  Irish  landlords.  His  verdict  was,  if  the  landlords 
were  willing  to  maintain  the  poor  on  their  estates,  let  them  remain;  if  not,  let 
them  be  swept  away." 

Roebuck's  verdict  was  that  of  the  English  Government.  On  the  resources 
provided  by  the  Irish  Poor  Laws,  the  lives  of  the  people  were  doomed  to  de 
pend.  Half  the  poor-rate  fell  on  the  landlord,  and  half  on  the  occupier;  and, 
as  the  former  had  the  power  of  lessening  the  burthen  by  clearing  the  needy 
off  his  estates,  he,  in  most  instances,  availed  himself  thereof  to  the  fullest 
extent.  The  result  of  this  cooperation  of  the  Government  and  "garrison," 
was,  that  it  fulfilled  the  estimate  calculated  on  by  the  Cabinet  Ministers,  on 
the  reports  of  their  Relief  Committees  —  namely,  that,  '•''within  the  space  of 
one  year,  two  million  of  the  Irish  people  would  die  of  hunger,  and  disease  arising 
from  hunger. 

Think  of  it,  men  of  the  Irish  race.  Two  million  of  your  kindred  deliber- 
erately  murdered  in  cold  blood,  in  one  year  •  then  imagine,  —  if  you  can,  —  what 
must  be  the  feelings  of  the  men  whose  lives  were  devoted  to  the  salva 
tion  of  their  people  and  the  regeneration  of  their  country,  on  being  compelled 
to  witness  the  daily  progress  of  this  destruction  of  their  hopes — in  all  its 
soul-sickening  details. 

And,  if  anything  were  wanted  to  aggravate  their  impotent  rage  against 
the  murderers,  it  was  furnished  by  finding  them  supported  in  their  hellish 
policy  by  the  votes  of  mercenary  traitors,  foisted  upon  Irish  constituencies, 


UltiLUJSiilNU    THE  SITUATION.  81 

under  the  garb  of  honest  men,  pledged  to  the  restoration  of  their  country's 
legislative  independence. 

Pondering  on  these  things,  is  it  any  wonder  that  earnest  men  were 
driven  to  despair  of  saving  the  remnant  of  their  people,  by  the  constitu 
tional  methods  hitherto  found  inadequate,  and,  in  their  extremity,  led  to 
seek  any  possible  remedy  for  the  fell  disease  under  which  the  nation's  life 
was  surely  and  swiftly  ebbing  away? 

In  this  position  the  Irish  Confederation  found  itself  at  the  end  of  the 
first  year  of  its  existence. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

DISCUSSING   THE    SITUATION.  —  CHARLES    GAVAN    DUFFY    ON  PAR 
LIAMENTARY  OBSTRUCTION.  — JOHN  MITUHEL  SOtt 
STERNER  MEASURES. 

To  concert  some  feasible  plan  by  which  to  stem  the  tide  of  destruction 
that  threatened  to  ovewhelm  the  island,  the  Council  of  the  Confederation 
held  many  anxious  meetings. 

Eventually  Mr.  Duffy  was  instructed  to  prepare  a  Report  that  would  out 
line  their  future  action  in  dealing  not  only  with  the  present  emergency,  but 
with  the  only  remedy  for  the  paralized  nation  —  the  restoration  of  her  Leg 
islative  independence. 

This  was  done,  and,  at  a  full  meeting  of  the  Council  the  Report  was 
earnestly  discussed. 

Among  its  most  important  provisions,  it  recommended  "  the  election  to 
Parliament  of  a  band  of  resolute  and  capable  men  who,  by  demonstrating 
the  justice  of  our  national  claims  would  probably  win  converts  among  rea 
sonable  Englishmen,  but,  at  any  rate,  would  cause  them  to  be  listened  to, 
by  making  Irish  interests  cross,  and  impede,  and  rule  the  British  Senate.  For  it 
was  not  by  Parliament,  but  in  spite  of  it  —  not  by  its  grace  and  influence,  but 
because  of  its  utter  imbecility  against  the  right  vigorously  asserted,  that  they  would 
succeed." 

Here  we  find,  clearly  set  forth  the  policy  of  "Parliamentary  obstruction," 
which  the  Home  Rule  members  adopted  five-and-thiry  years  later. 

In  continuation  of  the  subject  Mr.   Duffy's  Report  says:  — 


82  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

"  When  the  representatives  in  Parliament  had  made  the  cause  plain  to 
all  men,  and  when  the  organization  at  home  had  been  so  successful  as  to 
raise  those  representatives  to  the  undeniable  position  of  the  spokesmen  of 
a  nation,  it  would  be  their  right  and  duty  (as  it  is  demonstrably  within 
their  power)  to  stop  the  entire  business  of  Parliament  till  the  constitution 
of  Ireland  was  restored.  But  this  is  a  measure  which,  to  be  successful, 
must  be  taken  on  behalf  of  a  nation.  It  must  have  the  authority  of  an 
outraged  nation  to  justify  it,  and  raise  it  above  the  tactics  of  mere  party 
conflict;  and  the  strength  of  a  banded  nation  to  maintain  it,  if  it  be  vio 
lently  suppressed.  For  from  such  a  position  there  seems  but  two  paths: 
that  of  concession  to  Ireland,  or  the  forcible  expulsion  of  the  Irish  repre 
sentatives  from  the  House  of  Commons." 

The  policy  embodied  in  this  report  was  not  approved  of  by  John  Mitchel, 
in  as  much  as  it  did  not  tend  to  any  immediate  amelioration  of  the  people's- 
condition,  or  any  cessation  of  the  system  under  which  the  life  stream  of  the 
nation  was  steadily  ebbing  away.  Both  in  the  Council  of  the  Coufederation 
and  in  the  columns  of  the  Nation  he  advocated  the  abandonment  of  consti 
tutional  agitation,  and  the  adoption  of  other  methods  more  suited  to  the- 
desperate  condition  of  the  country.  But  the  particular  measure  he  proposed 
in  the  Council  as  an  alternative  to  Mr.  Duffy's  Eeport,  was  rejected,  a& 
being  impracticable,  by  the  great  majority  of  his  colleagues,  and  Mr.  Duffy's 
report  was  adopted.  Mr.  Mitchel's  articles  on  the  subject  in  the  Nation  being 
diametrically  opposed  to  the  opinions  of  the  editor  and  proprietor,  Mr.  Duffy, 
the  former  and  his  friend  Devin  Eeilly,  who  coincided  in  his  opinions,  with 
drew  from  the  paper,  and  a  month  latter  founded  a  new  journal  of  their 
own — "  The  United  Irishman!" 

In  the  meantime  the  question  at  issue  was  laid  before  the  Confederate 
Clubs  in  the  provincial  towns,  and  they  unanimously  coincided  with  the  ma 
jority  of  the  Council;  for,  much  as  they  would  wish  to  adopt  Mr.  Mitchell 
project,  their  reason  rejected  it  as  being  not  only  impracticable  as  against 
the  common  enemy,  but  as  being  certain  of  meeting  the  opposition  of  the 
great  majority  of  the  people,  who,  at  that  time,  knew  but  very  little  of 
Mr.  Mitchel. 

Meagher,  in  a  letter  to  Smith  O'Brien  on  the  subject,  intuitively  gave 
expression  to  the  sentiments  of  his  Munster  compatriots  : — 

"I  feel  —  in  my  soul  I  believe  —  that  an  unconstitutional  mode  of  action 
would  not  in  present  circumstances,  succeed.  I  am  convinced  that  the  only 
mode  we  can  adopt,  the  only  policy  which  we  can  successfully  conduct  — 
is  the  constitutional  policy  advised  by  Duffy.  And  yet,  when  I  see  the 
tyrannical  spirit  of  the  upper  classes,  the  Government,  the  'Parliament ;  when 


PARLIAMENTARY  OBSTRUCTION.  83 

I  mark  the  glee  with  which  they  hail  the  coercion  measures  now  in  force; 
when  (as  is  the  case  in  this  county,)  I  find  the  most  peaceful  districts  in 
Ii eland  proclaimed,  and  have  in  our  very  streets  and  the  roads  close  to  the 
town  the  most  insolent  parade  of  artillery  and  police  and  dragoons;  when 
I  see  all  this,  and  observe,  moreover,  not  the  least  change  of  spirit  among 
the  gentry  — no  generous  national  sentiment  striving  among  them  —  but  on  the 
contrary  a  vile  thankfulness  to  that  country  for  its  '  protection,'  which  last 
year  cuCed  and  spat  upon  them:  when  I  see  all  this,  my  heart  sinks  under 
a  weight  of  bitter  thoughts,  and  I  am  almost  diiven  to  the  conclusion  that 
it  would  be  better  to  risk  all,  to  make  a  desperate  effort,  and  fix  at  once 
the  fate  of  Ireland." 

On  their  retirement  from  the  Nation,  Messrs.  Mitchel  and  Reilly  published 
letters  enunciating  doctrines  which,  in  Smith  O'Brien's  opinion,  were  diamet 
rically  opposed  to  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Confederation,  in  as 
much  as  '•  they  proposed  to  render  that  body  unfit  for  any  but  insurrection 
ary  purposes."  As  the  time  for  the  annual  election  of  the  Council  of  the 
Confederation  was  nearly  at  hand,  Mr.  O'Brien  deemed  it  a  proper  occasion 
on  which  the  Confederates  should  decide  on  the  course  of  action  they 
should  adopt.  He  accordingly  prepared  a  series  of  resolutions  which,  with 
the  full  knowledge  of  the  existing  Council,  he  proposed  submitting  to  the 
public  meeting. 

The  gist  of  these  resolutions  may  be  embodied  in  the  following  para 
graph:— 

"That  this  Confederation  was  established  to  attain  an  Irish  Parliament 
by  the  combination  of  classes  and  by  the  force  of  opinion,  exercised  in 
constitutional  operations,  and  that  no  means  of  a  contrary  character  can  be 
recommended  or  promoted  through  its  organization  while  its  present  funda 
mental  rules  remain  unaltered." 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

DEBATE    ON    SMITH    O'BRIEN'S    RESOLUTIONS    IN   THE    IRISH    CON 
FEDERATION.  —  ME  AGHER'S  SPEECH. 

ON  Wednesday,  February  2nd,  1848,  at  a  special  meeting  of  the  Irish 
Confederation,  SMITH  O'BRIEN  introduced  the  series  of  resolutions  referred 
to  in  the  preceding  chapter,  and  moved  their  adoption  in  a  lengthy  speech, 


84  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

in  which  he  referred  to  the  published  letters  of  Messrs.  Mitchel  and  Reilly 
as  being  a  breach  of  the  fundamental  rules  of  the  Confederation. 

MR.  JOHN  A.   PIGOT  seconded  the  resolutions.* 

MR.  MITCHEL,  in  defending  the  course  he  had  taken,  moved  the  follow 
ing  amendment :  — 

"That  this  Confederation  do  not  leel  called  upon  to  pronounce  either  a 
condemnation  or  approval  of  any  doctrine  promulgated  by  any  of  its  members 
by  letters,  speeches,  or  otherwise,  because  the  seventh  fundamental  rule  of 
the  Confederation  expressly  provides:  "That,  in  as  much  as  the  essential 
bond  of  union  amongst  us  is  the  assertion  of  Ireland's  right  to  an  indepen 
dent  legislature,  no  member  of  the  Irish  Confederation  shall  be  bound  to 
the  adoption  of  any  principle  involved  in  any  resolution,  or  promulgated  by 
any  speaker  in  the  Society  or  any  journal  advocating  its  policy,  to  which 
he  has  not  given  his  special  consent,  save  only  the  foregoing  fundamental 
principles  of  the  Society." 

MR.  THOMAS  DEVIN  DEILLY  seconded  the  amendment. 

The  debate  which  followed  was  continued  for  three  successive  days,  and 
was  conducted  with  perfect  order,  good  humor  and  courtesy;  in  a  spirit  of 
fair  play,  and  in  a  sober  and  temperate  tone.  Nearly  all  the  most  conspic 
uous  members  of  the  Confederation  took  part  in  the  debate.  Those  who 
spoke  in  favor  of  Mr.  O'Brien's  resolutions  including  John  B.  Dillon,  Charles 
Gavan  Duffy,  Michael  Doheny,  Eichard  O'Gorman,  Jr.,  John  Williams,  Thomas 
Francis  Meagher,  Thomas  Darcy  McGee,  and  Patrick  J.  Smyth. 

Mr.  Mitchel's  amendment  was  supported  by  Thomas  Devin  Reilly,  Eugene 
O'Reilly,  Andrew  English  and  John  Fieher  Murray.  John  Martin  being 
chairman,  was  precluded  from  participating  in  the  debate,  but,  in  a  letter 
written  to  the  United  Irishman  on  the  week  following,  he  fully  identified 
himself  with  Mr.  Mitchel's  views. 

At  two  o'clock  on  Friday  morning,   the    debate    was  brought  to  a  close, 


*JOHN  EDWABD  PIGOT  was  the  son  of  Chief  Baron  Plget,  and  one  of  the  earliest 
and  moat  enthusiastic  workera  In  the  new  national  party  who  had  the  credit  of  bringing  a 
•Soul  Into  Ireland."  He  was  one  of  Thomas  Davis's  most  Intimate  friends  and  associates. 
Like  Davis,  he  was  a  forcible  and  graceful  writer,  but  no  platform  orator;  his  speech  In 
seconding  Mr  O'Brien's  resolutions  on  the  above  occasion  being  the  only  one  he  ever 
delivered  In  public.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  poetical  writers  for  the  NATION.  Under 
the  nom  de  plume  of  "  FBBMOT,"  he  contributed  that  spirited  lyric  — "The  Song  of  The 
United  Irishmen!"  —  which  became  exceedingly  popular  at  the  time,  and  which  is,  In  fact, 
the  best  of  the  many  national  songs  written  to  the  same  favorite  air  — "The  Wearing  of 
the  Green  1 " 


DEBATE   ON  SMITH  O'BRIEN'S  RESOLUTIONS. 

and  a  vote  being  taken  on  Mr.  Mitchel's  amendment,  it  was  rejected  by  a 
majority  of  129. 

Mr.  O'Brien's  resolutions  were  then  put,  snd  declared  by  the  Chairman 
to  be  carried  without  a  division. 

Mr.  Meagher  was  not  present  during  the  first  two  days  of  the  debate, 
and  one  of  the  speakers,  Mr.  John  Fisher  Murray,  —  a  clever  and  versatile 
writer  in  prose  and  verse,  but  a  novice  in  practical  Irish  politics,  and  some 
what  erratic  in  his  ideas  and  manner  of  expression  —  noticing  the  young 
orator's  absence,  melo-dramatically  asked :  "  Where  is  the  '  Man  of  the 
Sword?'"  supplementing  the  query  by  announcing  that,  ufor  his  part,  he 
was  the  '  Man  of  the  Umbrella,' "  (which  article  he  flourished  vigorously  above 
his  head,  to  the  amusement  of  even  the  most  serious  portion  of  the  spec 
tators).  Meagher,  who  had  only  returned  that  morning  from  England,  on 
presenting  himself  at  the  meeting,  was  informed  by  some  humorous  friend 
of  the  ludicrous  incident  of  the  previous  day,  and,  in  the  opening  of  his 
address,  took  occasion  to  reply  seriously  to  Mr.  Fisher's  enquiry  as  to  his 
whereabouts,  for,  after  announcing  that,  "  as  he  had  only  returned  that 
morning  from  England,  he  found  himself  engaged  in  the  debate  quite  unex 
pectedly,"  he  proceeded  to  say :  — 

MR.  MEAGHER'S   SPEECH, 
(FEB.  4xn,  1848.) 

"My  presence  here  this  evening  will  release  me  from  that  questionable 
position  in  which  my  absence  may>  perhaps,  have  placed  me,  and  will  serve 
as  an  answer  to  those  suspicious  questions  which,  I  understand,  were  asked 
about  me,  upon  this  platform,  last  night.  (Loud  cries  of  '  hear,  hear.')  I 
have  been  told  that  it  was  sneeringly  asked  — '  Where  is  Mr.  Meagher  of 
the  Sword?'  as  if  I  was  shrinking  from  this  discussion.  Mr.  Meagher  is 
where  he  has  always  been  —  ever  since  the  Confederation  was  founded  —  at 
his  post  —  prepared  to  state  his  opinions,  and  to  abide  by  them. 

"  No,  sir,  I  had  no  intention  to  shirk  this  question.  From  my  first 
appearance  in  public  life  down  to  the  present  moment,  I  believe,  I  have 
always  acted  with  perfect  candor,  and  whenever  it  was  required,  I  am  sure 
I  never  refrained  from  giving  the  fullest  expression  to  these  opinions  which 
I  might  have  had  the  good  sense  or  the  folly  to  entertain.  And,  certainly, 
upon  this  question  —  involving  as  it  does,  the  existence  of  the  Confederation 
—  I  had  no  notion  of  playing  the  truant's  part.  They  who  do  not  know  me 
might  have  thought  so. 

"Now    to    the    question,    and    in    coming    to    it,    I    sincerely    express    the 


86  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANCI8  MEAGHER. 

same  feelings  to  which  Mr.  Reilly  has  given  utterance.  I  trust  that  we 
who  are  about  to  conclude  may  not,  by  any  mishap,  disturb  the  good  feel 
ings  that  have  prevailed  all  through  this  discussion:  and  I  fervently  pray 
that  in  this  conflict  of  opinions  we  shall  preserve  those  feelings  which  have 
so  long  united  us  in  a  sincere  and  devoted  companionship.  And  here  I  will 
remark  that  my  friend,  Mr.  Mitchel  —  whom  I  shall  never  cease  to  trust 
and  admire  —  has  brought  the  real  question  at  issue,  most  conveniently  for 
me,  into  the  smallest  possible  space.  '  The  real  question,'  he  says,  '  which 
we  have  to  decide  is,  whether  we  have  to  keep  the  constitutional  and  par 
liamentary  agitation  or  not?  — for  my  part,'  (he  adds,)  'I  am  weary  of  this 
constitutional  agitation.' 

"Now,  that  is  precisely  the  question,  and  most  neatly  reduced  to  a 
nutshell.  You  have  to  decide  whether  this  constitutional  agitation  is  to  be 
given  up  or  not.  You  are  to  say  whether  you,  too,  are  weary  of  it  or  not. 
Previous,  however,  to  our  going  into  the  merits  of  this  constitutional  agita 
tion,  I  think  that  upon  one  point  we  are  quite  agreed  —  quite  agreed  that, 
whatever  policy  we  may  adopt,  all  this  vague  talk  should  cease  with  which 
your  ears  have  been  vexed  for  so  long  a  period.  All  this  vague  talk  about 
a  crisis  is  at  hand  —  shouts  of  defiance  —  Louis  Phillippe  is  upwards  of  sev 
enty —  France  remembers  Waterloo  —  the  first  gun  fired  in  Europe  —  all  this 
obscure  babble  —  all  this  meaningless  mysticism  —  must  be  swept  away.  Ten 
thousand  guns  fired  in  Europe  would  announce  no  glad  tidings  to  you  if 
their  lightning  flashed  upon  you  in  a  state  of  disorganization  and  incerti 
tude. 

"Sir,  I  know  of  no  nation  that  has  won  its  independence  by  an  acci 
dent.  Trust  blindly  to  the  future  —  wait  for  'the  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men, 
which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune '  —  envelope  yourselves  in  mist 

—  leave  everything    to    chance,   and    be    assured    of   this,  the    most  propitious 
opportunities  will  rise  and  pass  away,  leaving  you  still  to  chance  —  masters  of 
no  weapons  —  scholars    of    no    science  —  incompetent    to    decide  —  irresolute    to 
act  —  powerless  to  achieve.    This  was  the  great  error  of   the  Repeal  Associa 
tion.      From    a   labyrinth  of  difficulties  there  was  no  avenue  open  to  success. 
The  people  were  kept    within    this  labyrinth  —  they  moved    round  and  round 

—  backwards  and  forwards  —  there  was  perpetual  motion  but  no  advance.    In 
this  bewilderment    are    you    content    to  wander  until  a  sign   appears  in  Hea 
ven,    and    the    mystery    is    disentangled    by    a    miracle?     Have    you    no    clear 
intelligence  to  direct  you  to  the  right  path,   and    do  you  fear  to  trust  your 
footsteps    to    the    guidance    of    that    mind  with  which  you  have  been   gifted: 
Do  you  prefer  to  substitute  a  driftless   superstition  in  place  of  a  determined 
system  —  groping    and    fumbling    after    possibilities,    instead    of    seizing    the 


MS.   MEAGHER'S  SPEECH.  87 

agencies  within  your  reach?  This,  indeed,  would  be  a  blind  renunciation  of 
your  powers,  and  thus,  indeed,  the  virtue  you  prize  so  justly  — the  virtue  of 
self-reliance  — would  be  extinguished  in  you.  To  this  you  will  not  consent. 
You  have  too  sure  a  confidence  in  the  resources  you  possess  to  leave  to 
chance  what  you  can  accomplish  by  design. 

"A  deliberate  plan  of  action  is  then  essential  —  something  positive  — 
something  definite.  This  you  require,  and  upon  this  you  have  this  night  to 
determine.  From  what  suggestions,  then,  are  we  to  shape  our  course?  Is 
it  not  come  to  this,  that  we  have  to  choose  between  a  constitutional  policy 
and  an  insurrection?  Is  an  insurrection  probable?  If  piobable,  is  it  prac 
ticable?  Prove  to  me  that  it  is,  and  I  for  one  will  vote  for  it  this  very 
night. 

"You  know  well,  my  friends,  that  I  am  not  one  of  these  tame  moral 
ists  who  say  that  liberty  is  not  worth  a  drop  of  blood.  Men  who  subscribe 
to  such  a  maxim  are  fit  for  out-door  relief,  and  for  nothing  better.  Against 
this  miserable  maxim  the  noblest  virtue  that  has  served  and  sanctified  human 
ity  appears  in  judgment.  From  the  blue  waters  of  the  bay  of  Salamis  — 
from  the  valley  over  which  the  sun  stood  still  and  lit  the  Israelite  to  victory 
—  from  the  cathedral  in  which  the  sword  of  Poland  has  been  sheathed  in 
the  shroud  of  Kosciusco  —  from  the  convent  of  St.  Isidore,  where  the  fiery 
hand  that  rent  the  ensign  of  St.  George  upon  the  plains  of  Ulster  has 
crumbled  into  dust  —  from  the  sands  of  the  desert,  where  the  wild  genius 
of  the  Algerine  so  long  has  scared  the  eagle  of  the  Pyranees — from  the  ducal 
palace  in  this  kingdom,  where  the  memory  of  the  gallant  and  seditious 
Geraldine  enhances,  more  than  royal  favor,  the  nobility  of  his  race  —  from 
the  solitary  grave  which,  within  this  mute  city,  a  dying  request  has  left 
without  an  epitaph  —  Oh !  from  every  spot  where  heroism  has  had  its  sacri 
fice,  or  its  triumph,  a  voice  breaks  in  upon  the  cringing  crowds  that  cheer 
this  wretched  maxim,  crying  out  '  Away  with  it,  away  with  it.'  Would  to 
God,  sir,  that  we  could  take  every  barrack  in  the  island  this  night,  and  with 
our  blood  purchase  the  independence  of  the  country. 

It  is  not  then  a  pedantic  reverence  for  common  law — it  is  not  a  sense 
less  devotion  to  a  diadem  and  sceptre  —  it  is  not  a  whining  solicitude  for 
the  preservation  of  the  species  —  that  dictates  the  vote  I  give  this  night  in 
favor  of  a  constitutional  movement.  I  support  this  constitutional  policy  not 
from  choice,  but  from  necessity.  My  strongest  feelings  are  in  favor  of  the 
policy  advised  by  Mr.  Mitchel.  I  wish  to  God  I  could  defend  that  policy. 
It  is  a  policy  which  calls  forth  the  noblest  passions  —  it  kindles  genius,  gen 
erosity,  heroism  —  it  is  far  removed  from  the  tricks  and  crimes  of  politics 


88  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

—  for  the  young,   the  gallant,   and  the  good,  it  has  the  most  powerful  attrac 
tions. 

"In  the  history  of  this  kingdom  the  names  that  burn  above  the  dust 
and  desolation  of  the  past  —  like  the  lamps  in  the  old  sepulchres  of  Rome 

—  shed    their    glory  round    the    principles  of  which  a  deep  conviction  of  our 
weakness    compels    me    this    night    to    be    the    opponent.    And    in  being  their 
opponent.   I  almost  blush    to    think  that  the  voice  of  one  whose  influence  is 
felt  through  this  struggle  more  powerfully  than  any  other — one  who  unites 
the    genius    of   Madame    Roland    with    the   heroism    of    the   Maid  of    Orleans, 
and  whose  noble  lyrics  will  bid  this  cause  to  live  forever — I  almost  blush  to 
think  that  this  voice   which  speaks  to  us  in  these  glorious  lines  — 

•And  the  beckonlrg   angels  win  you  on,  with  many  a  radiant  vision, 
Up  the  thorny  path  to  glory,  where  man  receives  his  crown'  — 

should  be  disobeyed,  and  that,  for  a  time  at  least,  we  must  plod  on  in  thi 
old  course,  until  we  acquire  strength,  and  discipline,  and  skill  —  discipline  to 
steady,  skill  to  direct,  strength  to  enforce  the  claim  of  a  united  nation." 

Mr.  Meagher  here  referred  in  detail  to  the  unsurmountable  obstacles 
which  an  immediate  insurrection  would  have  to  encounter,  and  the  conflict 
ol  classes  which  it  was  sure  to  engender,  and  concluded  as  follows :  — 

*'  So  much  for  the  war  of  classes.  No ;  I  am  not  for  a  democratic,  but 
I  am  for  a  national  movement  —  not  for  a  movement  like  that  of  Paris  in 
1793,  but  for  a  movement  like  that  of  Brussels  in  1830,  —  like  that  of  Pa 
lermo  in  1848.*  If  you  think  differently  say  so.  If  you  are  weary  of  this 
constitutional  movement  —  if  you  despair  of  this  "combination  of  classes"  — 
declare  so  boldly,  and  let  this  night  terminate  the  career  of  the  Irish  Con 
federation. 

"Yet,  upon  the  brink  of  this  abyss,  listen  for  a  moment  to  the  voice 
that  speaks  to  you  from  the  vaults  of  Mount  St.  Jerome;  and  if  you  dis 
trust  the  advice  of  the  friend  who  now  addresses  you  —  one  who  has  done 
something  to  assist  you,  and  who,  I  believe  has  not  been  unfaithful  to  you 
in  some  moments  of  difficulty,  and  perhaps  of  danger  —  if  you  do  not  trust 
me,  listen,  at  least,  to  the  voice  of  one  who  has  been  carried  to  his  grave 
amid  the  tears  and  prayers  of  all  classes  of  his  countrymen,  and  of  whos« 
courage  and  whose  truth  there  has  never  yet  been  uttered  the  slightest 
doubt:  —  'Be  bold,  but  wise  — be  brave,  but  sober  —  patient,  earnest,  striving 
and  untiring.  You  have  sworn  to  be  temperate  for  your  comfort  here  and 


*The  Revolution  la  Palermo  had  occuried  a  fortnight  before. 


THE   WATERFORD  ELECTION. 


your  well-being  hereafter.  Be  temperate  now  for  the  honor,  the  happiness, 
the  immortality  of  your  country  —  act  trustfully  and  truthfully  to  one  ano 
ther  —  watch,  wait,  and  leave  the  rest  to  God.'  " 

With  this  noble  adjuration  of  Thomas  Davis,  Meagher  concluded  the  last 
"  constitutional  "  speech  he  was  ever  to  deliver  before  the  Irish  Confedera 
tion,  and  the  last,  but  one,  he  was  destined  to  deliver  in  Ireland. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  WATERFORD  ELECTION,   1848. 

AT  the  time  the  debate  on  the  policy  of  the  Irish  Confederation  was 
taking  place  in  Dublin,  Daniel  O'Connell,  Jr.,  Member  of  Parliament  for  the 
city  of  Waterford,  resigned  his  seat  for  the  purpose  of  accepting  the  position 
of  British  Consul  to  Boulogne. 

Conciliation  Hall  selected  as  its  candidate  for  the  vacant  seat,  Patrick 
Costello,  a  retired  Kilkenny  attorney,  who,  for  several  years,  had  held  a 
sinecure  office  under  the  AVhigs  with  a  stipend  of  £800  a  year.  Meagher 
being  determined  that  his  native  city  should  no  longer  be  a  nursery  for 
place-hunting  hypocrites,  evinced  an  inclination  of  contesting  the  seat  in 
person,  and,  as  a  parliamentary  party  was  a  part  of  the  Confederate  plan, 
his  colleagues  entered  ardently  into  his  views,  and  between  them  contributed 
the  necessary  funds  for  the  expenses  of  the  contest. 

Meagher's  father  was,  at  that  time,  the  senior  member  for  Waterford. 
He  was  a  most  indulgent  parent,  and  supplied  his  son  liberally  with  the 
means  of  upholding  his  position  in  society.  But  being  a  confirmed  "  Old 
Irelander,"  he  would  not  give  the  young  orator  any  support  or  encourage 
ment  in  his  effort  to  become  his  colleague  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
Eventually,  he  threw  the  weight  of  his  influence  in  favor  of  the  Concilia 
tion  Hall  candidate.  But,  in  thus  preferring  public  principle  to  private 
feelings,  he  was  only  following  his  son's  example  at  the  time  of  his  own 
ejection  the  year  before,  when,  because  he  refused  to  take  the  pledge  "  not 
to  solicit  or  accept  office  from  any  English  administration,"  in  accordant 
with  the  principles  of  the  Confederation,  the  heir  of  his  house  and  name 
refrained  from  voting  for  him.  But  these  political  differences  between  the 


•9Q  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

father  and  son  never  tended  towards  lessening  the  mutual  affection  and 
esteem  which  they  entertained  for  one  another  through  life. 

Previous  to  the  nomination-day,  it  became  known  that  a  third  candidate 
was  about  to  present  himself  for  the  honor  of  representing  the  "  Urbs  Intacta.'1'' 
This  was  Sir  Henry  Winston  Barren,  an  old-time  politician  of  Whiggish  pro 
clivities,  who  had  previously  represented  the  city  as  a  Repealer,  and  while 
so  doing  made  the  most  of  his  opportunities  to  secure  lucrative  positions  for 
his  "long-tailed  family."  Thus,  he  had  a  brother  an  Assistant  Barister,  two 
cousins  Stipendiary  Magistrates,  another  cousin  Assistant  Poor  Law  Commis 
sioner,  and  a  son  Attache  to  the  British  Embassy  at  Turin.  His  family 
occupied  a  prominent  position  among  the  local  Catholic-  gentry  for  genera 
tions  past,  and  though,  as  a  fossilized  old  fogy,  he  had  almost  faded  from 
sight  in  modern  politics,  he  relied  on  the  division  in  the  popular  ranks  to 
work  his  way,  with  the  help  of  the  Conservatives,  into  Parliament  once 
more,  and  accordingly,  he  entered  the  lists  as  an  "Independent  Repealer."  (?) 

Never,  since  the  great  Waterford  election  of  1826,  did  any  parliamentary 
contest  evoke  such  excitement  in  the  "city  by  the  Suir,"  as  that  of  1848. 
But  the  circumstances  in  these  eventful  contests  were  essentially  different  in 
many  respects.  In  the  first  instance,  the  popular  candidate,  —  though  opposed 
to  a  powerful  and  long-dominant  faction  —  backed  by  three-fourths  of  the 
landlord  class,  —  had  the  united  support  of  the  Catholic  Clergy,  and  of  tl.e 
great  mass  of  the  "  Forty-Shilling  Freeholders,''  who  fairly  represented  the 
manhood  of  the  county.  On  the  other  hand,  the  city  of  Waterford,  in  1848, 
with  a  population  of  about  28,000,  had  only  about  700  entitled  to  the  fran 
chise  —  or  one  voter  to  forty  inhabitants.  A  considerable  percentage  of  this 
constituency  were  Conservatives  in  principle;  an  equal  number  were  either 
old-time  followers  of  O'Connell  and  still  attached  to  his  principles,  or  bona- 
fide  Whigs  —  ever  ready  to  serve  their  personal  interests  at  the  expense  of 
country  or  principle;  the  balance  were  thorough-going  nationalists — most  of 
them  personal  friends  of  their  young  townsman;  who,  in  addition,  had  the 
support  —  moral  and  physical  —  of  the  unfranchised  populace.  The  local  Con 
servative  paper,  the  Waterfurd  Mail,  on  the  week  before  the  election,  thus 
describes  the  state  of  affairs :  — 

"Considerable  excitement  prevails  throughout  the  city,  in  consequence  of 
the  hostile  appearance  manifested  by  the  supporters  of  the  "  Young "  and 
"  Old  Ireland "  parties.  The  military  and  police  are  on  constant  patrol 
through  the  streets.  Sir  Charles  O'Donnell  has  arrived  in  town  from  Dun- 
garvan,  to  attend  during  the  election.  The  Conciliation  Hall  Repealers, 
represented  by  the  Carrick  boatmen,  show  a  pugnacious  front,  but  the  Young 
[relanders  appear  as  determined  as  they  are,  and  better  able  to  maintain 


MR.   MEAGHEWS  SPEECH. 


their  ground.  The  ensuing  election  has  every  appearance  of  being  a  stormy 
one.  and  the  indications  of  defeat  on  the  part  of  the  Conciliation  Hall 
clique  are  strikingly  manifest.  The  feeling  exhibited  against  them  as  a  body 
of  shave-beggars,  place-hunting,  and  place-accepting,  is  most  effectively  dis 
played.  Their  competitors,  from  their  honest  enthusiasm,  and  manly  bearing, 
have  caused  the  current  to  flow  in  their  favor.  To  the  present  everything 
appears  on  Mr.  Meagher's  side." 

This  was  written  before  Barren  put  in  an  appearance  and  complicated 
the  situation.  The  "  Carrick  Boatmen"  —  then  the  stalwart  physical  support 
ers  of  the  "  Moral  Force  "  party,  in  a  few  months  subsequently,  proved 
themselves  to  be  the  foremost,  bravest,  and  most  devoted  Revolutionists  in 
Ireland,  as  will  be  shown  by  Meagher's  own  testimony. 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Duffy,  reporting  the  progress  of  his  canvass,  Meagher 
writes  :  — 

"Everything  goes  on  splendidly.  A  glorious  canvass  to-day!  All  the 
people  —  emphatically  the  people  —  and  the  girls,  and  the  women.  My  God  ! 
I  can  hardly  believe  my  senses!  If  Sir  Henry  Barren  will  not  stand,  my 
return  (I  could  almost  swear  to)  is  certain." 

On  Saturday,  February  19th,  the  contest  commenced.  The  three  candi 
dates  were  duly  proposed  and  seconded  —  in  speeches  not  particularly  distin 
guished  for  originality,  save  that  of  the  seconder  of  Mr.  Costello,  (a  local 
friar,)  which  won  for  the  speaker  the  reputation  of  being  the  most  aggres 
sive  member  of  the  Church  Militant,  and  the  least  fastidious  in  his  choice 
of  wordy  weapons,  that  ever  confronted  an  opponent  on  an  Irish  hustings. 

The  candidates  then  addressed  the  meeting,  Meagher  spoke  last.  I  copy 
the  report  of  his  speech  verbatim  as  it  appeared  in  the  Waterford  Mail  and 
Freeman. 

MR.  MEAGHER'S  SPEECH. 
(FEB.  19TH,  1848.) 

"  Mr.  T.  F.  Meagher  then  rose,  and  for  several  minutes  was  received 
with  the  most  enthusiastic  and  deafening  cheers,  waving  of  hats  and  hand 
kerchiefs,  and  every  possible  mark  of  respect  and  enthusiasm.  When  silence 
was  obtained,  he  proceeded  to  speak  as  follows  :  — 

"Mr.  Sheriff  and  Gentlemen,  —  I  stand  before  you  convicted  of  a  most 
henious  crime.  I  have  claimed  the  representation  of  my  native  city,  and  I 
have  claimed  it  with  an  effrontery  which  can  never  be  forgiven  —  I,  who 
have  sought  to  precipitate  this  country  into  the  red  torrent  of  insurrection! 
I,  who  have  defamed  the  clergy  of  the  people,  and  in  the  assemblies  of 
the  people  have  abjured  the  creed  and  worship  of  my  fathers—  I  who  have 


•S3  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

stretched  out  my  treacherous  hand  to  the  Orangemen  of  Ulster,  and,  from 
that  spot  where  the  banner  of  King  James  was  rent  by  the  sword  of  Wil 
liam,  have  passionately  prayed  for  the  extinction  of  those  feuds  which  have 
been  transmitted  to  us  through  the  rancorous  blood  of  five  generations  — 
I,  who  have  presumed  to  say  that  the  God,  by  whose  will  I  breathe,  has 
given  me  a  mind  that  should  not  cringe  and  crawl  along  the  earth,  but 
should  expand  and  soar,  and,  in  the  rapture  of  its  free  will,  should  exult- 
ingly  pursue  its  own  career  —  I,  who  have  dared  to  assert  the  freedom  of 
this  mind,  and  ambitious  to  preserve  in  it  the  charter  and  inheritance  I 
had  from  heaven,  disdained  to  be  the  slave  of  one  whom,  were  it  not  an 
impious  perversion  of  the  noblest  gift  of  God  it  might  have  been  no  igno 
miny  to  serve  —  I,  who  have  rushed  through  this  career  of  criminality  — 
hissed  and  hooted  by  the  intelligence,  the  virtue,  the  respectability  of  the 
country  —  lampooned  and  lacerated  by  the  pens  of  an  elegant,  a  courageous, 
and  an  honest  press  —  spurned  from  the  hearse  of  the  Catholic  Emancipator, 
and  stained  with  the  blood  which  his  retinue,  with  such  a  decent  resent 
ment,  have  drawn  from  his  coffin,  and  dashed  hi  my  face. 

"What,  then,   inspires  me  to  proceed? 

"Against  this  sea  of  troubles,  what  strength  have  I  to  beat  my  way 
towards  that  bold  headland,  upon  which  I  have  sworn  to  plant  the  flag  I 
have  rescued  from  the  wreck?  Weak,  reckless,  bewildered  youth! — with 
those  clouds  breaking  above  my  "head,  —  with  those  cries  of  vengeance  ring 
ing  in  my  ears  —  what  sign  of  hope  glitters  along  the  waters? 

"There  is  a  sign  of  hope,  —  the  PEOPLE — the  people  are  standing  on 
that  headland,  and  they  beckon  me  to  advance.  Yes,  the  people  are  with  me 
in  this  struggle,  and  it  is  that  gives  nerve  to  my  arm,  and  passion  to  my 
heart.  Whilst  they  are  with  me,  I  will  face  the  worst  —  I  can  defy  the 
boldest  —  I  may  despise  the  proudest.  You,  who  oppose  me,  look  to  the 
generous  and  impetuous  crowd,  in  the  heart  of  which  I  was  borne  to 
the  steps  of  this  hall,  and  tell  me,  in  that  crowd  do  you  not  find 
some  slight  apology  for  the  crime  of  which,  hi  your  impartial  judgments,  I 
stand  convicted?  Does  not  that  honest  thrift,  that  desperate  integrity,  that 
precipitate  enthusiasm,  plead  in  my  defence,  and  by  the  decree  Of  the  people 
has  not  my  crime  become  a  virtue?  By  this  decree  has  not  the  sentence 
against  the  culprit,  the  anarchist,  the  murderer,  been  reversed?  By  this  de 
cree,  I  say,  have  not  these  infamous  designations  been  swept  away,  and 
here,  asserting  the  independence  of  the  island,  shall  I  not  recognize,  hi  the 
justice  of  the  people,  their  title  to  accept  an  eminent  responsibility — their 
ability  to  attain  an  exalted  destination? 

"You  say  'no'  to  all  this — you,  gentlemen  of   the  corporation  and  the 


MR.   MEAGHER'S   SPEECH  93 

Repeal  news-room;  you  say  'no'  to  all  this.  Ah!  you  are  driving  the  old 
coach  still.  You  will  not  give  way  to  modern  improvements  —  you  are  behind 
your  time  most  sadly  —  conservative  of  error — intolerant  of  truth.  Is  it  not 
BO?  Your  cry  is  still  the  hackneyed  cry:  'You  have  differed  with  O'Connell 
—  you  have  maligned  O'Connell.'  You  meet  me,  gentlemen  of  the  corporation 
and  the  Repeal  news-room  —  you  meet  me  with  these  two  accusations,  and 
to  these  accusations  you  require  an  answer.  The  answer  shall  be  concise 
and  bluat. 

"  The  first  accusation,  that  I  have  differed  with  O'Connell,  is  honorably 
true.  The  second  accusation,  that  I  have  maligned  O'Connell,  is  malignantly 
false.  It  is  quite  true  that  I  have  differed  with  Mr.  O'Counell,  and  I 'glory 
in  the  act  by  which  I  forfeited  the  confidence  of  slaves,  and  won  the  sanc 
tion  of  free  citizens.  I  differed  with  him,  and  I  differed  with  him  because 
1  was  conscious  of  a  free  soul,  and  felt  that  it  would  be  an  abdication  of 
existence  to  consign  it  to  captivity.  Was  this  a  crime? 

•'  Do  you  curse  the  man  who  will  not  barter  the  priceless  jewel  of  hia 
soul?  To  be  your  favorite  —  to  win  your  honors,  must  I  be  a  slave?  What! 
was  it  for  this  that  you  were  called  forth  from  the  dust  upon  which  you 
trample?  What!  was  it  for  this  you  were  gifted  with  eternal  strength  by 
which  you  can  triumph  over  the  obscurity  of  a  plebeian  birth  —  by  which 
you  can  break  through  the  conceits  and  laws  of  fashion — by  which  you  can 
cope  with  the  craft  of  the  thief  and  the  genius  of  the  tyrant  —  by  which 
you  can  defy  the  exactions  of  penury,  and  rear  a  golden  prosperity  amid 
the  gloom  of  the  garret  and  the  pestilence  of  the  poor-house — by  which 
you  can  step  from  height  to  height,  and  shine  far  above  the  calamities  with 
which  you  struggled,  and  from  which  you  sprung  —  by  which  you  can  trav 
erse  the  giddy  seas,  and  be  a  light  and  glory  to  the  tribes  that  sit  in 
darknes.  and  the  shadow  of  death  —  by  which  you  can  mount  beyond  the 
clouds,  and  sweep  the  silver  fields  where  the  stars  fulfil  their  mysterious 
missions  —  by  which  you  can  gaze,  without  a  shudder,  upon  the  scythe  and 
shroud  of  Death,  and  seeing  the  grave  opened  at  your  feet,  can  look  beyond 
it,  and  feel  that  it  is  but  the  narrow  passage  to  a  luminous  immortality. 
What !  was  it  to  cramp,  to  sell,  to  play  the  trickster  and  the  trifler  with 
this  eternal  strength  that  you  were  called  forth  to  walk  this  sphere  —  to  be, 
for  a  time,  the  guest  of  its  bounty  and  the  idolater  of  its  glory. 

"  Gentlemen,  from  this  high  ground  I  shall  not  descend  to  seek  in  little 
details  the  vindication  of  my  difference  with  Mr.  O'Connell.  It  was  my  right 
to  differ  with  him  if  I  thought  him  wrong;  and  upon  that  right,  hi  the  name 
of  truth  and  freedom,  I  take  my  stand. 

"Nor  is   it   my  intention  to  touch   in  the   slightest  degree  upon  the  other 


94  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

counts  in  the  vehement  indictment  that  has  been  preferred  against  me.  The 
first  count  is  the  only  one  for  which  I  entertain  the  least  respect,  so  that 
I  deeply  sympathize  with  the  reverend  gentleman  who  has  taken  such  pro 
fane  and  profitless  trouble  to  provoke  me.  However,  if  he  really  desires  that 
I  should  satisfy  him  upon  these  points  to  which,  with  such  priestly  deco 
rum,  he  has  tediously  referred  —  I  may,  perhaps,  console  him  by  the  assur 
ance  that,  in  the  statement  of  the  grounds  upon  which  I  seek  the  represen 
tat  ion  of  this  city,  that  satisfaction  may  be  gamed.  This  statement  will  be 
very  brief. 

"I  am  an  enemy  of  the  Legislative  Union  —  an  enemy  of  that  Union  ia 
every  shape  and  form  that  it  may  assume  —  an  enemy  of  that  Union  whatever 
blessing  it  may  bring  —  an  enemy  of  that  Union  whatever  sacrifice  its  extinct 
ion  Jmay  require. 

"Maintain  the  Union,  and  maintain  your  beggery.  Maintain  the  Union,  nnd 
maintain  your  bankruptcy.  Maintain  the  Union,  and  maintain  your  famine. 
Tolerate  the  usurpation  which  the  English  parliament  has  achieved,  and  you 
tolerate  the  power  in  which  your  resources,  your  energies,  your  institutions 
are  absorbed — tolerate  the  rigor  of  the  English  Conservatives  —  their  procla 
mations  and  state  prosecutions  —  tolerate  the  English  Whigs  —  their  smiles 
and  compliments  —  their  liberal  appointments  and  modified  coercion  bills  — 
and  you  tolerate  the  two  policies  through  which  the  governments  of  Eng 
land  have  alternately  managed,  ruled,  and  robbed  this  country. 

"On  the  morning  of  the  13th  of  October,  in  the  year  1172,  upon  the 
broad  waters  of  our  native  Suir,  the  spears  and  banners  of  a  royal  pirate 
were  glittering  in  the  sun.  Did  the  old  city  of  the  Ostmen  send  forth  a 
about  of  defiance  as  the  splendid  pageant  moved  up  the  stream,  and  flung 
its  radiance  on  our  walls?  No.  From  these  walls  no  challenge  was  hurled 
at  the  foe;  but  from  the  Tower  of  Reginald  the  grey  eye  of  a  stately  sol 
dier  glistened  as  they  came,  and  whilst  he  waved  his  hand,  and  showed  the 
keys  of  the  city  he  had  won,  the  name  of  Strongbow  was  heard  amidst  the 
storm  of  shouts  that  rocked  the  galleys  "to  and  fro.  He  was  the  first  ad_ 
venturer  that  set  his  heel  on  Irish  soil  in  the  name  of  England,  and  he  — 
the  sleek,  the  cautious,  and  the  gallant  Strongbow  —  was  the  type  and  her 
ald  of  that  plague  with  which  this  island  has  been  cursed  for  seven  deso 
lating  centuries.  The  historian  Hollingshed  has  said  of  him,  that  "  what  he 
could  n.ot  compass  by  deeds,  he  won  by  good  works  and  gentle  speeches." 
Do  you  not  find  in  this  short  sentence  an  exact  description  of  that  despotism 
which  has  held  this  island  from  the  days  of  'Strongbow  the  archer,'  down 
to  our  own  —  the  days  of  'Clarendon,  the  green  crop  lecturer?' 

"By  force  or  fraud  —  by  steel  or    gold— by  threat  or  smile  —  by  liberal 


Mil.   MEAGHER S    SPEECH.  95 

appointments  or  speedy  executions  —  by  gaol  deliveries  or  special  commis 
sions  —  by  dinners  in  the  park  or  massacres  at  Clontarf  —  by  the  craft  of 
the  thief  or  the  genius  of  the  tyrant  —  they  have  held  this  island  ever  since 
that  morning  in  October,  1172—  seducing  those  whom  they  could  not  terrify 
—  slaying  those  whom  they  could  not  allure  nor  intimidate. 

"Thus  may  the  history  of  the  English  connection  be  told  —  a  black,  a 
boisterous  night,  in  which  there  shone  but  one  brief  interval  of  peace  and 
lustre. 

''Friends  and  foes!  —  you  who  cheer  and  you  who  hiss  me,  (cries  from 
the  Old  Ireland  party — 'No  one  hissed  you!')  Well,  then,  you  who  cheer 
and  you  who  curse  me  —  sons  of  the  soil !  —  inheritors  of  the  one  destiny !  — 
look  back  to  that  interval,  and,  for  an  instant,  contemplate  its  glory. 

"Repealers  of  Waterford —  you  who  oppose  me  —  is  your  resentment  to 
wards  me?  (great  confusion,  in  which  the  rest  of  the  sentence  was  lost.) 
Well,  then,  is  'Old  Ireland'  still  your  cry?  Old  Ireland,  indeed!  I  am  not 
against  Old  Ireland,  but  I  am  against  the  vices  that  have  made  Ireland  old. 
The  enmity  I  bear  to  the  Legislative  Union  is  not  more  bitter  than  the 
•enmity  I  bear  to  those  practices  and  passions  fiom  which  that  Union  derives 
its  ruinous  vitality. 

"Impatient  for  the  independence  of  my  country  —  intolerant  of  every  evil 
that  averts  the  blessing  —  I  detest  the  bigot  and  despise  the  place-beggar! 
Whe  stands  here  to  bless  the  bigot  or  to  cheer  the  place-beggar?  They 
are  the  worst  enemies  of  Ireland.  The  rancor  of  the  one  and  the  ven 
ality  of  the  other,  constitute  the  strongest  force  by  which  this  island  is 
fettered  in  subjection. 

"Down  with  the  bigot!  —  he  who  would  sacrifice  the  nation  to  the  su 
premacy  of  his  sect.  Down  with  the  bigot !  —  he  who  would  persecute  the 
courage  which  had  truth  for  its  inspiration,  and  had  humanity  for  its  cause. 
Down  with  the  bigot!  —  he  who  would  banish  the  genius,  which,  in  the  dis 
tribution  of  its  fruits,  was  generous  to  all  creeds;  and,  in  the  circle  of  its 
light,  would  embrace  every  altar  hi  the  land. 

"  Down  with  the  place-beggar !  —  he  who  would  traffic  on  a  noble  cause, 
and  beg  a  bribe  in  the  name  of  Liberty.  He  who  would  spurn  the  people 
upon  whose  shoulders  he  had  mounted  to  that  eminence  from  which  he  had 
beckoned  to  the  Minister  and  said  —  "Look  here  —  a  slave  for  hire  —  a  slave 
of  consequence  —  a  valuable  slave  —  the  people  have  confided  in  me." 

"You  have  now  some  notion  of  the  principles  upon  which  I  stand.  Do 
you  scout,  detest  these  principles?  Do  you  think  them  intolerant,  profane, 
and  impure?  Punish  me  if  you  desire  to  retain  your  past  character.  Pre- 


96  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGEER. 

serve  the  famous  motto    of    our    ancient  municipality  free  from  stain.    As  it 
was  won  by  a  slavish  loyalty,   so  maintain  it  by  a  sordid  patriotism. 

"  Spurn  me !  —  I  have  been  jealous  of  my  freedom,  and  in  the  pursuit 
of  liberty  I  have  scorned  to  work  in  shackles.  Spurn  me !  —  I  have  fought 
my  own  way  through  the  storm  of  politics,  and  have  played,  I  think,  no 
coward's  part  upon  the  way.  Spurn  me !  —  I  loathe  the  gold  of  England,  and 
deem  them  slaves  who  would  accept  it.  Spurn  me !  —  I  will  not  beg  a  bribe 
for  any  of  you  —  I  will  negotiate  no  pedler's  bargain  between  the  Minister 
and  the  people.  Spurn  me!  —  I  have  raised  my  voice  against  the  tricks  and 
vices  of  Irish  politics,  and  have  preached  the  attainment  of  a  noble  end  by 
noble  means.  Spurn  me!  —  I  have  claimed  the  position  and  the  powers  which 
none  amongst  you,  save  the  tame  and  venal,  will  refuse  to  demand;  and  in 
doing  this,  I  have  acted  as  became  a  free,  uupensioned  citizen." 

The  effect  of  this  magnificent  address  on  the  young  orator's  enthusiastic 
followers  may  well  be  imagined.  But  the  conservatives  present  were  scarcely 
less  moved;  they  repeatedly  gave  vent  to  their  admiration  and  delight  in 
exhuberant  cheers.*  Even  the  abashed  Old  Irelanders  could  not  withstand 
it,  and  they  several  times  assured  the  speaker  that  they  had  no  ill-feeling 
towards  him.  But,  on  the  voting  adherents  of  the  two  place-hunting  candi 
dates  the  speech  had  no  more  effect  than  if  they  were  so  many  rampant 
Orangemen,  or  impassive  Saxon  "  chaw-bacons."  Against  their  combined  in 
tolerance,  stupidity  and  selfishness,  no  eloquence  could  avail.  As  between 
them  they  comprised  two-thirds  of  the  electors,  the  conservatives,  finding 
they  could  not  elect  Meagher,  and  determined  to  defeat  Costello,  cast  their 
votes  for  Barron,  who  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  20. 

It  was  just  as  well  that  Meagher  was  not  elected,  for  events  were  then 
transpiring  in  the  eity  of  Paris  which,  in  any  case,  would  preclude  his  mak 
ing  the  British  Parliament  the  sphere  of  his  efforts  for  Irish  independence. 


*The  County  of  Waterford  Grand  Jury  was  then  In  session  in  the  city  court-house, 
and  attended  at  the  nomination.  One  of  Its  members,  Mr.  Francis  Curry,  of  Llsmore 
Castle  the  Bute  of  Devonshire's  Irish  agent,  on  his  return  home,  expressed  himself  most 
enthusiastically  In  praise  of  Meagher's  speech.  "Before  hearing  It,"  he  said,  "he  had  no 
conception  of  what  true  eloquence  was;  and  to  enjoy  such  an  Intellectual  treat  he  would 
willingly  walk  barefoot  from  Llamore  to  Waterford." 


TEE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  97 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION. 

"Lift  up  your  pale  faces,  ye  children  of   sorrow, 
The  night  passes  on  to  a  glorious  to-morrow." 

SPEKANZA. 

The  news  of  the  result  of  the  Waterford  election  had  hardly  time  to 
spread  throughout  the  country,  when  other  news  came  that  cast  all  thoughts 
of  parliamentary  contests  out  of  tl.e  people's  hearts.  Like  a  revelation  from 
Heaven  heralded  by  a  sun-ray  that  illuminated  the  Sacred  Isle  from  centre 
to  sea,  came  the  soul-stirring  inteligence :  — 

"REVOLUTION   IN   FRANCE! 

"ABDICATION  AND   FLIGHT  OP  Louis   PHILLIPPE! 
"A  REPUBLIC  PROCLAIMED!" 

The  hopes  that  news  created,  the  promises  it  conveyed  can  never  be 
expressed  in  words  by  its  recipients,  and  can  never  be  even  imagined  by 
any  one  else.  Every  true  Irish  heart  felt  as  if  lifted  "nearer  to  the  sun." 
They  felt  a  fore-taste  of  Freedom  for  themselves  and  their  land  so  exqui 
site  and  exhiliratiug  that  its  memory  was  a  blessing  through  their  after 
lives.  For  the  time  being,  they  felt  actually  free.  FREE  as  if  the  AVENGING 
ANGEL  had  swept  over  the  land  and  stricken  the  upholders  of  the  foreign 
tyrant  as  he  did  the  host  of  Sennacherib.  The  national  mind,  which,  one 
short  month  before,  was  almost  overwhelmed  in  the  depths  of  dejection,  was 
again  elevated  to  a  pitch  of  enthusiasm  such  as  it  had  not  experienced  since 
the  summer  of  1843. 

But,  alas !  in  that  dreary  interval  of  five  dismal  years,  nearly  two  mil 
lions  of  the  trusting,  devoted  peasantry,  who,  with  bounding  hearts  and 
elastic  steps,  mustered  in  their  strength  at  the  call  of  O'Connell, — had  per 
ished  miserably  in  their  famine-haunted  cabins,  the  poor-house,  the  fever- 
shed,  the  plague-ship,  —  or  by  the  ditch-side  —  within  sight  of  their  bare  and 
blackened  roof-trees;  while  the  common  attributes  of  manhood  were  nearly 
eradicated  from  the  souls  of  the  survivors  of  that  terrible  ordeal. 

But  there  is  a  wonderfully  recuperative  element  in  the  old  Celtic  nature, 
and  never  was  it  so  strikingly  exhibited  as  in  this  throne-upsetting-spring  of 
1848.  The  memories  of  the  past,  —  over-leaping  the  era  of  famine  and  plague 


98  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

—  saw  the  glorious  "Tricolor"  floating  over  Bantry  Bay  and  Killala,  and, 
inspired  by  that  radient  vision,  created  anew  the  faith  in  its  reappearance  in 
the  near  future.  And  so,  while  the  young  men  of  the  Irish  Metropolis  were 
enthusiastically  chanting  "  The  Marseillaise,"  and  "  Mourir  Pour  la  Paine," 
the  no  less  hopeful  peasant  gave  vent  to  his  exhuberant  feelings  in  suc'.i 
suggestive  ditties  as :  — 

"  Vive  la !  the   French  are  coming, 
Vive  la!  they're  all  In  view; 
Vive  la !  the  Saxon's  running  — 
What  shall  our  poor  Yeomen  do?" 

(To  suit  the  circumstances  of  the  times,  the  singer  substituted  "  Peelers  " 
for  "Yeomen.") 

Another  favorite  reminder  of  the  stirring  "  Quid  Times,"  contained  the 
following  strikingly  descriptive  camp-scene. 

"The  Militia  wor'  makln'  the  stir-about, 

An'  the  Yeomin  wor'  huntin'  for  spoons; 
When  they  hear  that  the  Frlnch  wor'  In  Bantry, 
They  shook  In  their  new  pantaloons." 

Wherever  Confederate  Clubs  had  been  established  in  the  country  towns, 
they,  as  a  matter  of  course,  became  most  active  fosterers  of  the  glowing 
hopes  that  lit  up  the  national  heart.  The  differences  of  opinion  which  sepa 
rated  "Old  and  Young  Ireland"  rapidly  disappeared  —  exorcised  by  the  pa 
triotism  which  united  all  true  hearts  against  the  common  enemy.  The  few 
irreconcilables  who,  here  and  there,  held  aloof  from  their  jubilant  fellow- 
countrymen,  were  good-naturedly  left  unheeded,  and,  by  degrees,  refrained 
from  any  exhibition  of  ill-will;  and,  in  very  many  instances,  the  Catholic 
clergy,  who,  as  devoted  admirers  of  O'Connell,  felt  it  their  duty  to  oppose 
those  who  differed  with  him,  now,  that  the  time  for  action  seemed  near  at 
hand,  urged  their  flocks  to  prepare  themselves  to  do  their  duty  as  men  and 
patriots. 

The  spirit  of  revolution  was  permeating  all  classes  of  Irish  nationalists. 
But  its  most  powerful  propagandist  was  the  national  press. 

"THE  UNITED  IRISHMAN." 

When,  in  January,  1848,  John  Mitchel,  and  his  friend  and  associate. 
Thomas  Devin  Reilly,  retired  from  the  Nation,  it  was  with  the  determina 
tion  of  preaching  their  Revolutionary  doctrines  in  an  organ  of  their  own. 

Accordingly,  they  at  once  issued  the  prospectus  of  the  "  United  Irishman." 


THE  FRENCH  RE  VOL  UTION  00 

It  contained  many  startling  axioms,  for  its  authors,  like  most  propoundera 
of  fundamental  truths,  were  then  somewhat  in  advance  of  the  times.  On 
February  12th  the  first  number  of  the  paper  appeared.  Its  success  was  un- 
paralelled  in  the  annals  of  Irish  journalism.  The  demand  was  so  great  that, 
for  three  days  and  nights  the  press  was  kept  going,  and  copies  were  sold 
by  the  Dublin  newsvenders  for  five  times  their  original  price.  N"or  was  this 
surprising,  for  the  "prospectus"  had  prepared  people  for  the  novel  ideas  it 
proposed  to  inculcate.  Its  policy  was  still  more  tersely  defined  in  the 
"  motto "  which  headed  its  editorial  columns,  and  which  was  most  likely 
selected  in  view  of  the  heartless  abandonment  by  the  property-holders  of  the 
perishing  people  during  the  previous  year.  The  "motto"  was  selected  from 
the  great  founder  of  the  "  United  Irishmen  " :  — 

"  Our  independence  must  be  won  at  all  hazards.  If  the  men  of  property 
will  not  support  us,  they  must  fall;  we  can  support  ourselves  by  the  aid 
of  that  numerous  and  respectable  class  of  the  community  —  The  men  of  no 
property." 

THEOBALD  WOLFE  TONE. 

Bravely  and  faithfully  did  the  founders  of  the  United  Irishman  act  In 
accordance  with  the  axiom  thus  laid  down  by  their  great  revolutionary  pro 
totype. 

The  first  number  appeared  twelve  days  before  the  French  Revolution. 
Yet  its  tone  was  as  defiant  as  it  continued  to  be  after  that  momentous 
event.  Mitchel's  inaugural  letter  to  the  "Earl  of  Clarendon,"  (the  Lord 
Lieutenant,)  startled  the  island  like  the  first  thunder-clap  of  a  long-gather 
ing  storm;  while  in  an  article  headed  "The  Sicilian  Style,"  Reilly  com 
menced  his  series  of  Grand  pceans  for  the  triumph  of  the  Soldiers  of  Liberty, 
which  for  power,  brilliancy  of  style,  and  passionate  earnestness,  have  never 
been  excelled  by  any  prose  writer  in  the  English  language. 

Father  John  Kenyon,  the  celebrated  Parish  Priest  of  Templederry  and 
John  Martin,  also  contributed  to  the  first  number  of  the  new  national  journal. 

A  few  weeks  more  found  the  Nation  also  travelling  on  the  same  revo 
lutionary  •'  Highway  to  Freedom."  Both  papers  were  eagerly  read  in  every 
city,  town,  and  hamlet  throughout  the  land,  inciting  all  who  aspired  to  see 
their  country  take  her  place  among  the  enfranchised  nations,  to  prepare  to 
achieve  her  liberty  by  resolute  hearts  and  armed  hands. 

The  popular  response  was,  in  effect :  — 

"  Show  us  whence  we  hope  may  borrow, — 
AMD  WE'LL  FIGU~  VOUK  FIGHT  TO-MOKBOW." 


100  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  JUEAGHEE. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

DUBLIN  VOICES  THE  NATIONAL  SENTIMENT. 

"Now,  citizens  and  countrymen, 

'Tls  time  for  us  to  learn 
Aristocrats  are  kindliest 

When  democrats  are  ftern. 
They  talk  us  down,  and  walk  us  down, 

Who  cringe  to  their  command; 
But  the  yeh  of  our  defiance 

Not  a  coronet  can  stand." 

MABT. 

While  bonfires  blazed  on  the  Irish  hills;  while  the  towns  were  illu 
minated,  and  tri-color  flags  flew  from  the  windows  of  Confederate  club- 
rooms  throughout  the  provinces;  all  eyes  were  turned  towards  the  Capital 
to  see  what  action  would  be  taken  therein.  As  the  headquarters  of  the  Con 
federation,  all  the  Branches  of  the  organization  looked  to  it  for  guidance; 
while  the  country  at  large  expected  that  its  citizens  would  be  equal  to  the 
emergency,  and  set  an  example  worthy  of  being  followed. 

And  neither  leaders  nor  citizens  proved  unworthy  of  the  confidence  reposed 
in  their  wisdom  or  their  courage.  Their  conduct  was  admirable  in  the  tre 
mendous  responsibility  which  they  had  so  suddenly  to  confront. 

When  the  thrilling  news  first  burst  upon  Dublin  most  of  the  leading 
members  of  the  Confederation  were  absent  from  the  city,  but,  pending  the 
call  for  a  general  meeting  of  the  body,  the  several  clubs  promptly  met  and 
passed  appropriate  Resolutions,  expressive  of  their  delight  at  the  glorious 
triumph  achieved  by  the  French  democracy.  The  tradesmen  and  artizans,  also, 
took  measures  for  holding  a  public  meeting  of  their  body,  to  express  their 
sympathy  with,  and  admiration  for,  their  fellow-workmen  in  France.  In  the 
meantime  Charles  Gavau  Duffy  promptly  called  a  public  meeting  of  the 
Confederation  at  the  Music  Hall,  Abbey  street.  This  meeting  was  held  on 
the  2d  of  March,  and  thereat  Mr.  Duffy  announced  that  "  their  long  talked 
of  opportunity  had  come,  and  that  if  they  were  not  slaves  and  unworthy 
of  liberty,  Ireland  would  be  free  before  the  summer  sunk  into  the  winter; 
that  their  first  duty  was  to  forget  and  forgive,  and  state  from  that  spot 
that  all  differences  between  Irishmen  were  at  an  end."  Mr.  Duffy  also  sug 
gested  that  "  a  deputation  be  sent  to  France  to  tell  its  people  and  govern 
ment  how  entirely  the  Irish  people  sympathized  in  their  success." 


ADDHESS   TO    THE  FRENCH  PEOPLE.  101 

Another  meeting  of  the  Confederation  was  held  on  the  following  week, 
at  the  same  place.  Smith  O'Brien  was  present,  having  come  from  England 
to  attend  it.  He  also  thought  that  Ireland's  opportunity  had  come,  and 
counseled  the  people  to  u  calm  determination,  and  the  exercise  of  forbear 
ance  and  brotherly  love  towards  all  classes  of  their  fellow-countrymen  who 
exhibited  a  willingness  to  unite  with  them  in  demanding  the  legislative  in 
dependence  of  their  country.'*  He  hoped  that  even  then,  the  gentry  would 
take  their  stand  with  the  people,  and  wished  to  afford  them  no  excuse  for 
hesitation  or  doubt  as  to  the  reception  they  would  receive.  But  he  was 
mistaken  in  the  heartless  tribe.  Of  all  the  Irish  landlords  he,  alone,  cast 
his  lot  with  the  people  in  this  hour  of  trial. 

Meagher  was  not  present  at  either  of  those  two  meetings,  but  a  letter 
from  him  was  read  at  the  second  one.  His  time,  however,  soon  came,  and 
found  him  prepared  to  justify  the  faith  his  country  reposed  in  his  purpose, 
his  determination,  and  his  devotion  to  her  cause. 

THE   ADDRESS  TO   THE   FREXCH  PEOPLE. 

On  Wednesday  evening.  March  15,  took  place  the  most  important  meet 
ing  yet  held  by  the  Irish  Confederation.  It  was  called  by  the  Council  of 
that  body  for  the  purpose  of  adopting  an  address  of  congratulation  to  the 
French  people.  An  immense  concourse  attended,  oj:  which  but  a  compara 
tively  small  portion  could  find  room  in  the  great  hall.  Nearly  all  the  most 
distinguished  leaders  were  present  on  the  platform,  (save  John  Mitchel  who 
was  sick,  yet  attempted  to  come  to  the  meeting,  but  could  not  gain  admit 
tance,  owing  to  the  doors  being  finally  closed  against  the  immense  crowd 
outside). 

On  the  motion  of  Smith  O'Brien,   John  Dillon  took  the  chair. 

On  rising  to  move  an  address  of  congratulation  to  the  French  people 
Mr.  O'Brien  addressed  the  meeting  in  a  lengthy  speech,  in  which  he  earnestly 
inculcated  union  among  all  Repealers  as  indispensable  to  success  in  attain 
ing  national  independence.  Referring  to  the  proposed  aggregate  meeting  of 
the  citizens  of  Dublin,  he  said :  — 

"  The  people  are  anxious  to  see  a  real  effort  made  for  union,  and  that 
there  should  be  a  great  assemblage  for  the  fraternization  of  all  classes  on  an 
occasion  so  calculated  to  invite  the  entire  unanimity  which  the  circumstances 
of  the  time  call  for.  Therefore,  I  trust,  that  a  great  aggregate  meeting  of 
the  citizens  of  Dublin,  composed  of  Old  and  Young  Ireland,  will  be  held 
to  congratulate  the  French  people.  But  I  also  hope  that  if  you  agree  to 
hold  a  peaceful  and  unarmed  meeting  there  shall  be  no  retraction  of  that 
resolve.  In  selecting  a  place  for  the  meeting,  it  should  be,  perhaps,  some 


102  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

field  in  the  neighborhood  of  Dublin,  where  there  would  be  no  pretext  for 
the  police  to  interfere,  on  the  ground  that  the  meeting  was  infringing  on 
the  highway,  or  was  an  obstruction  to  business;  but  when  the  place  of  meet 
ing  is  selected,  and  if  you  determine  upon  it,  you  should  hold  it  whether  there 
be  a  proclamation  against  it  or  not.  *  *  * 

"I  understand  that  it  is  currently  reported  that  it  is  intended  to  have 
a  massacre  of  the  people  at  the  place  of  meeting.  I  do  not  believe  there 
is  any  such  intention.  For  my  part  I  have  no  objection  to  attend  that  meeting 
in  the  event  of  a  proclamation  against  it.  And  I  would  earnestly  caution 
the  government  not  to  send  any  of  their  troops  there.  I  warn  them,  in 
perfect  sincerity,  that  from  what  I  can  learn  respecting  the  temper  of  the 
troops  now  stationed  in  Dublin,  it  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  if  an 
order  were  given  them  to  fire  upon  a  peaceable  and  inoffending  multitude, 
the  first  person  shot  by  the  troops  would  be  the  officer  who  gave  such  an 
order.  I  will  pledge  myself  to  take  the  front  place  at  that  meeting,  and 
allow  them  to  shoot  me  if  they  please." 

After  reviewing  the  political  situation  abroad  and  at  home,  Mr.  O'Brien 
went  on  to  say  that  he  "had  no  hesitation  in  declaring  that  he  thought 
the  minds  of  intelligent  young  men  should  be  turned  to  the  consideration  of 
such  questions  as,  how  strong  places  can  be  captured,  and  weak  ones  defended 
— how  supplies  of  food  and  ammunition  can  be  cut  off  from  an  enemy,  and 
how  they  can  be  secured  to  a  friendly  force. 

"  The  time  was  also  come  when  every  lover  of  his  country  should  come 
forward  openly  and  proclaim  his  willingness  to  be  enrolled  as  a  member  of 
a  national  guard.  No  man,  however,  should  tender  his  name  as  a  member 
of  that  national  guard  unless  he  was  prepared  to  do  two  things  —  one,  to 
preserve  the  state  from  anarchy;  the  other,  to  be  ready  to  die  for  the  de 
fence  of  his  country." 

Mr.  O'Brien  concluded  by  moving  the  adoption  of  the  address  to  the 
French  people. 

Mr.  Eugene  O'Reilly  seconded  the  adoption  of  the  address.  The  motion 
was  put  from  the  chair,  and  carried  by  acclamation. 

Mr.  Meagher  then  came  forward  and  proceeded  to  read  the  following 
address : — 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  IRISH  CONFEDERATION  TO  THE  CITIZENS  OP 
THE  FRENCH  REPUBLIC. 

"ILLUSTRIOUS  CITIZENS,  —  Permit  us  to  offer  to  you  such  congratulations 
as  a  people  still  suffering  under  servitude  may,  without  reproach,  testify  to 
a  nation  which  has  nobly  vindicated  its  own  liberties. 


ADDEESS   70    THE  FRENCH  PEOPLE.  103 

"  We  congratulate  you  upon  the  downfall  of  a  tyranny  elaborately  con 
structed  with  consummate  art,  but  which  has  been  prostrated  in  a  moment 
of  your  chivalrous  enthusiasm. 

"  We  know  not  whether  most  to  admire  your  fiery  valor  in  the  hour 
of  trial,  or  your  sublime  forbearance  in  the  moment  of  success. 

"  You  have  respected  religion,  and  God  has,  therefore,  blessed  your 
work. 

"  Your  heroism  has  taught  enslaved  nations  that  emancipation  ever  awaits 
those  who  dare  to  achieve  it  by  their  intrepedity. 

"  By  your  firm  maintenance  of  public  order,  you  have  proved  that  true 
liberty  claims  no  kindred  with  spoliation  and  anarchy. 

"We  hail  you  henceforth  as  arbiters  of  the  destinies  of  mankind,  as 
deliverers  of  the  oppres*nd  members  of  the  great  human  family. 

"We,  whose  nationality  was  extinguished  by  the  basest  arts  — we,  who 
daily  experience  the  countless  evils  which  result  from  that  unspeakable  loss — 
we,  the  inhabitants  of  Ireland,  now  claim  your  sympathy. 

"We  have  firmly  resolved  that  this  ancient  kingdom  shall  once  argaiu 
be  free  and  independent. 

"  In  imitation  of  your  example  we  propose  to  exhaust  all  the  resources 
of  constitutional  action,  before  we  resort  to  other  efforts  for  redress. 

"Time  will  unfold  our  projects;  but  we  hesitate  not  to  tell  you,  in  an 
ticipation  of  the  future,  that  your  friendship  may  increase  their  efficacy,  and 
accelerate  their  success. 

"  Our  claims  to  fraternity  with  you  rest  upon  the  proudest  traditions  of 
your  history. 

"In  other  times,  in  the  hour  of  Ireland's  extremest  need,  your  forefa 
thers  tendered  shelter  and  hospitality  to  our  exiled  warriors;  and  Fontenoy 
can  testify  how  well  that  hospitality  was  requited  by  the  cheerful  effusion 
of  Irish  blood  in  the  maintenance  of  the  glory  of  France. 

"  On  our  own  account,  as  well  as  upon  yours,  we  shall  watch  with  in 
tense  interest  the  development  of  your  republican  constitution. 

"We  augurthe  happiest  results  to  yourselves  and  to  mankind,  from  your 
determination  to  found  your  institutions  upon  the  broadest  basis  —  to  place 
them  no  longer  upon  privileged  classes,  but  upon  the  whole  French  nation. 

"  Consolidate  the  great  work  which  you  have  begun.  Guarantee  the 
rights  of  property,  by  securing  the  rights  of  industy.  Indulge  not  the  lust 
of  conquest,  but  be  ever  ready  to  succor  the  oppressed. 

"Render  France  the  centre  of  European  progress,  as  well  in  the  march 
of  freedom,  as  in  the  advance  of  civilization  and  of  the  arts. 

"  Continue  to  present  mankind  a  magnanimous  example  of  manly  virtue. 


104  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOU  A  S  FEA  NCIS  ME  A  GHEE. 

and  be  assured,  that  among  those  who  will  greet  you  with  iipplause  and 
admiration,  you  will  find  no  more  affectionate  ally  than  the  people  of 
Ireland. 

"Signed  on  behalf  of  the  Irish  Confederation, 

"WILLIAM  S.   O'BRIEN, 

"  Chairman  of  the  Council." 

MEAGHER'S  FIRST  UNCONSTITUTIONAL  SPEECH. 

(MARCH    15TH,    1848.) 

Having  read  the  address,  Mr.  Meagher  continued :  — 

"  Citizens  of  Dublin,  —  I  move  the  adoption  of  that  a'ddress.  In  doing 
so,  I  will  follow  the  advice  of  my  friend,  Mr.  McGee.  This  is  not  the 
time  for  long  speeches.  Everything  we  say  here,  just  now,  should  be  short, 
sharp,  and  decisive.  I  move  the  adoption  of  that  address  for  this  reason  — 
the  instruction  it  gives  you,  if  obeyed,  will  keep  you  in  possession  of  that 
opportunity  which  the  Revolution  of  Paris  has  created.  The  game  is  in 
your  hands  at  last,  and  you  have  a  partner  in  the  play  upon  whom  you 
may  depend.  Look  towards  the  southern  wave,  and  do  you  not  find  it 
crimsoned  with  the  flame  in  which  the  throne  of  the  Tuilleries  has  been 
consumed,  and  borne  upon  that  wave,  do  you  not  hail  the  rainbow  flag, 
which,  a  few  years  since,  glittered  from  the  hills  of  Bautry?  Has  not 
France  proclaimed  herself  the  protectress  of  weak  nations,  and  is  not  the 
sword  of  the  republic  pledged  to  the  oppressed  nationalities  that  in  Europe, 
and  elsewhere,  desire  to  reconstruct  themselves?  The  feet  that  have  tram 
pled  upon  the  sceptre  of  July  have  trampled  upon  the  treaty  of  Vienna. 
Henceforth  the  convenience  of  Kings  will  be  slightly  consulted  by  France, 
where  the  necessities  of  a  people  manifest  themselves. 

"  Do  not  beg  the  blood,  which,  on  the  altar  of  Madeleine,  she  consecrates 
to  the  service  of  humanity.  Do  not  purchase  your  independence  at  the  ex 
pense  of  these  poor  workmen,  whose  heroism  has  been  so  impetuous,  so  gen 
erous,  so  tolerant.  It  is  sufficient  for  us  that  the  republic,  to  use  the 
language  of  Lamartine,  shines  from  its  place  upon  the  horizon  of  nations, 
to  instruct  and  guide  them.  Listen  to  these  instructions,  accept  this  guid« 
ance,  and  be  confident  of  success. 

lk  Fraternize !  I  will  use  the  word,  though  the  critics  of  the  castle  reject 
It  as  the  cant  of  the  day.  I  will  use  it,  for  it  is  the  spell-word  of  weak 
nations.  Fraternize,  as  the  citizens  of  Paris  have  done,  and  in  the  clasped 
hands  that  arch  the  colossal  car  in  that  great  funeral  procession  of  the  4th 


FIRST   UNCONSTITUTIONAL   SPEECH.  103 

t 

of   March,   behold    the    sign    in    which    your    victory  shall    be   won.     Do    you 

not  redden  at  the  thought  of  your  contemptible  factions,  their  follies  and 
their  crimes?  Do  you  not  see  that  every  nation,  with  a  sensible  head  and 
an  upright  heart,  laughs  at  your  poor,  profligate  passion,  which  frets  and 
fights  for  a  straw  in  this  parish  —  a  feather  in  that  barony — a  bubble  on 
that  river?  Have  you  not  learned  by  this,  that,  whilst  you  have  been  fight 
ing  for  these  straws  and  bubbles,  the  country  has  been  wrenched  from 
beneath  your  feet,  and  made  over  to  the  brigands  of  the  Castle?  And  what 
enables  these  sleek  and  silken  brigands  to  hold  your  country?  Have  you  fought 
them?  Have  you  struck  blow  for  blow,  and  been  worsted  in  the  fight?  Think 
of  it.  You  marched  against  them  a  few  years  back,  and  when  you  drew  up 
before  the  Castle  gates,  you  cursed  and  cuffed  each  other  —  and  then  withdrew. 
Withdrew !  For  what?  To  repair  the  evil?  To  re-unite  the  forces?  Ah!  I  will 
not  sting  you  with  the  questions  —  I  will  not  sting  myself.  Let  no  Irishman 
look  into  the  past ;  he  will  be  scared  at  the  evidences  of  his  guilt  —  eviden 
ces  which  spring  up,  like  weeds  and  briars,  in  that  bleak  waste  of  ruins. 
Between  us  and  the  past  let  a  wall  arise,  and,  as  if  this  day  was  the  first 
of  our  existence,  let  us  advance  together  towards  that  destiny,  in  the  light 
of  which  this  old  island  shall  renew  itself. 

"Citizens! — I  use  another  of  the  "cant  phrases"  of  the  day,  for  this, 
too,  is  a  spell-word  with  weak  nations  —  I  speak  thus,  in  spite  of  circum 
stances  which,  within  the  last  few  days  (I  allude  to  the  addresses  from  the 
University  and  the  Orange  Lodges,)  —  have  darkened  the  prospect  of  a  na 
tional  union.  I  speak  thus  in  spite  of  that  squeamish  morality  which  decries 
the  inspiration  of  the  time,  and  would  check  the  lofty  passion  which  desires 
to  manifest  itself  in  arms.  But  I  will  not  despair  of  this  union  whoever 
may  play  the  factionist.  The  people  will  act  for  themselves  and  will  not 
be  compromised.  At  this  startling  moment  —  when  your  fortunes  are  swing 
ing  in  the  balance  —  let  no  man  dictate  to  you.  Trust  to  your  own  intelli 
gence,  sincerity,  and  power.  Do  not  place  your  prerogatives  in  commission 

—  the  Sovereign  People   should  neither  lend  nor  abdicate  the  sceptre.    As  to 
the   "upper    classes"  —  "respectable  circles    of    society" — genteel  nobodies  — 
nervous  aristocrats  —  friends  of  order  and  starvation  —  of  pestilence  and  peace 

—  of    speedy  hangings    and    green-cropping — as    to  these    conspirators  against 
the    life     and    dignity    of     the     island,    they     must     be    no    longer    courted. 
They  are  cowards;  and  when  they  see  your  strength,  they  will  cling  to  you 
for  protection.    Do  I  tell  you  to  refuse  this  protection?    Were  I  base  enough 
to  do  so,  you  would  lemind    me    that    the    revolution  of  Paris  has  been  im 
mortalized   by  the  clemency   of  the  people. 

"In    my  letter    last    week    to    the    Council  of    the  Confederation  I  stated 


100  NENOIES  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  NEAGHEE. 

that  it  was  not  my  wish  to  urge  any  suggestion  as  to  the  course  we  should 
pursue.  Upon  reflection,  however,  I  think  I  am  called  upon  to  declare  to 
you  my  opinion  upon  this  question;  for  it  would  not  be  honorable,  I  con 
ceive,  for  any  prominent  member  of  the  Confederation  to  shield  himself  at 
this  crisis.  And  I  am  the  more  anxious  to  declare  my  opinion  upon  this 
question  of  ways  and  means,  since  I  had  not  the  good  fortune  of  being 
present  at  your  two  previous  meetings,  and  perhaps  my  absence  may  have 
occasioned  some  suspicion. 

"I  think,  then,  that  from  a  meeting  —  constituted,  as  the  Kepealers  of 
Kilkenny  have  suggested,  of  delegates  from  the  chief  towns  and  parishes  — 
a  deputation  should  proceed  to  London,  and  in  the  name  of  the  Irish  people, 
demand  an  interview  with  the  Queen.  Should  the  demand  be  refused,  let 
the  Irish  deputies  pack  up  their  court  dresses — as  Benjamin  Franklin  did, 
when  repulsed  from  the  court  of  George  III.  —  and  let  them,  then  and  there, 
make  solemn  oath,  that  when  next  they  demand  admission  to  the  throne 
room  of  St.  James's,  it  shall  be  through  the  accredited  ambassador  of  the 
Irish  Republic.  Should  the  demand  be  conceded,  let  the  deputies  approach 
the  throne,  and,  in  firm  and  respectful  terms,  call  upon  the  Queeii  to  exer 
cise  the  royal  prerogative,  and  summon  her  Irish  Parliament  to  sit  and 
advise  her  in  the  city  of  Dublin. 

"If  the  call  be  obeyed  —  if  the  sceptre  touch  the  bier,  and  she  "who 
is  not  dead  but  sleepeth,"  should  start  at  its  touch  into  a  fresh  and  lumi 
nous  existence  —  then,  indeed,  may  we  bless  the  constitution  we  have  been 
taught  to  curse,  and  Irish  loyalty,  ceasing  to  be  a  mere  ceremonious  affec 
tation,  become  with  us  a  sincere  devotion  to  the  just  ruler  of  an  indepen 
dent  state. 

"If  the  claim  be  rejected  —  if  the  throne  stand  as  a  harder  between 
the  Irish  people  and  their  supreme  right  — then  loyalty  will  be  a  crime, 
and  obedience  to  the  executive  will  be  treason  to  the  country.  I  say  it 
calmly,  seriously,  and  deliberately,  it  will  then  be  our  duty  to  fight,  and 
desperately  fight.  (Here  the  whole  meeting  stood  up,  and  a  tremendous 
burst  of  applause  broke  from  every  part  of  the  house.)  The  opinions  of 
Whig  statesmen  have  been  quoted  here  to-night.  1  beg  to  remind  you  of 
Lord  Palmerston's  language  in  reference  to  the  insurrection  in  Lisbon  last 
September.  ll  say  that  the  people  were  justified  in  saying  to  the  govern 
ment  if  you  do  not  give  us  a  parliament  in  which  to  state  our  wrongs 

and  grievances,   we  shall  state  them    by  arms  and  by  force.' 

"I  adopt  these  words,   and  I  call  upon  you  to  adopt  them   likewise. 

"Citizens    of    Dublin,  I    know  well  what    I  may  incur  by  the  expression 
oi  these   sentiments  —  I  know  it  well  —  therefore,   let    no  man   indulgently  as- 


FIRST   UNCONSTITUTIONAL  SPEECH.  107 

cribe  them  to  ignorance  or  to  idiocy.  Were  I  more  moderate  — as  some  Whig 
sympathizer  would  say  — more  sensible,  as  he  might  add,  without  meaning 
anything  personal  of  course  —  more  practical,  as  he  would  further  beg  leave 
to  remark,  without  at  all  meaning  to  deny  that  I  possessed  some  excellent 
points  — in  fact,  and  in  truth,  were  I  a  temperate  trifler,  a  polished  knave, 
a  scientific  dodger  — I  might  promise  myself  a  pleasant  life,  many  gay 
scenes,  perhaps  no  few  privileges.  Moderate,  sensible,  practical  men,  are 
sure  to  obtain  privileges  just  now.  Paid  poor-law  guardianships  are  pleutilul 
now-a-days,  and  the  invitations  to  the  Castle  are  indiscriminate  and  innu 
merable.  But  I  desire  to  be  neither  moderate  nor  sensible  —  neither  sensible 
nor  practical,  in  the  sense  attached  to  these  words  by  the  polite  and  knav 
ish  circle,  of  which  his  Excellency  is  the  centre.  It  is  the  renunciation  of 
truth,  of  manhood,  and  of  country  — the  renunciation  of  the  noblest  lessons 
with  which  the  stately  genius  of  antiquity  has  crowned  the  hills  of  Rome, 
and  sanctified  the  dust  of  Greece  —  the  renunciation  of  all  that  is  frank,  and 
chivalrous,  and  inspiring  —  it  is  the  -renunciation  of  all  this  which  makes 
you  acceptable  in  the  eyes  of  that  meagre,  spectral  royalty,  which  keeps 
"  open  house "  for  reduced  gentlemen  upon  the  summit  of  Cork-Hill.  Better 
to  swing  from  the  gibbet  than  live  and  fatten  upon  such  terms  as  these. 
Better  to  rot  within  the  precincts  of  the  common  gaol  —  when  the  law  has 
curbed  your  haughty  neck,  young  traitor!  than  to  be  the  moderate,  sensible, 
practical  villain,  which  these  Chesterfields  of  the  Dublin  promenades  and 
salons  would  entreat  you  to  De  for  the  sake  of  society  and  the  success  of 
the  Whigs. 

"But  the  hour  is  on  the  stroke  when  these  conceits  and  mockeries  shall 
be  trampled  in  the  dust. 

"  The  storm  that  dashed  down  the  crown  of  Orleans  against  the  column 
of  July  has  rocked  the  foundations  of  the  Castle.  They  have  no  longer  a 
safe  bedding  in  the  Irish  soil.  To  the  first  breeze  that  shakes  the  banners 
of  the  European  rivals  they  must  give  way.  Be  you  upon  the  watch  to 
catch  that  bi  eeze.  When  the  world  is  in  arms  —  when  the  silence  which, 
for  two-and-thirty  years,  has  reigned  upon  the  plain  of  Waterloo,  at  last  is 
broken  —  then  be  prepared  to  grasp  your  freedom  with  an  armed  hand,  and 
hold  it  with  the  same. 

"  In  the  meantime,  tske  warning  from  this  address  — '  do  not  suffer  your 
sacred  cause  to  be  ruined  by  stratagem  or  surprise.'  Beware  of  the  ingen 
uity  —  the  black  art  —  of  those  who  hold  your  country.  By  your  sagacious 
conduct  keep  them  prisoners  in  their  barracks  on  the  17th.  There  must  be 
no  bloody  joke,  at  your  expense,  amongst  the  jesters  and  buftbons  in  St. 
Patrick's  Hall,  upon  that  night. 


108  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEA&HER. 

"Citizens  of  Dublin,  you  have  heard  my  opinions.  These  opinions  may 
be  very  rash,  but  it  would  not  be  honest  to  conceal  them.  The  time  has 
come  for  every  Irishman  to  speak  out.  The  address  of  the  University  declares 
that  it  is  the  duy  of  every  man  in  the  kingdom  to  say  whether  he  is  the 
friend  or  the  foe  of  the  government.  I  think  so  too,  and  I  declare  myself 
the  enemy  of  the  government. 

"  But  if  I  am  rash,  it  was  Rome,  it  was  Palermo,  it  was  Paris,  that 
made  me  rash.  Vexed  by  the  indiscretion  —  the  fanaticism — of  those  cities, 
who  can  keep  his  temper,  dole  out  placid  law,  and  play  the  gentle  dema 
gogue? 

"  When  the  sections  of  Paris  were  thickening  like  the  clouds  of  a  tem 
pest,  round  the  Tuilleries,  in  1793,  Louis  XVI.  put  on  his  court  dress,  and, 
in  his  ruffles  and  silk  stockings,  waited  for  the  thunderbolt.  Is  it  thus 
that  you  will  wait  for  the  storm  now  gathering  over  Europe?  Shall  the 
language  of  the  nation  be  the  language  of  the  Four  Courts? 

"Will  the  revolution  be  made  with  rose-water?  Look  up!  look  up!  and 
behold  the  incentives  of  the  hour. 

"By  the  waves  of  the  Mediterranean  the  Sicilian  noble  stands,  and  pre 
sents  to  you  the  flag  of  freedom.  From  the  steps  of 'the  Capitol  the  keeper 
of  the  sacred  keys  unfurls  the  banner  that  was  buried  in  the  grave  of  the 
Bandieros  and  invites  you  to  accept  it.  From  the  tribune  of  the  French  Repub 
lic,  where  that  gallant  workman  exclaims  — '  Respect  the  public  monuments ! 
respect  the  rights  of  property !  the  people  have  shown  that  they  will  not 
be  ill-goverued.  Let  them  prove  they  know  how  to  use  the  victory  they 
have  won.' 

"From  this  tribune,  where  these  noble  words  are  uttered,  the  hand  of 
labor  —  the  strong  hand  of  God's  nobility  —  proffers  you  the  flag  of  indepen 
dence.  Will  you  refuse  to  take  it?  Will  you  shut  your  eyes  to  the  splen 
dors  that  surround  you  and  grope  your  way  in  darkness  to  the  grave? 

"Ah!  pardon  me  this  language  — it  is  not  the  language  which  tho 
awakening  spirit  of  the  country  justifies.  Taught  by  the  examples  of  Italy, 
of  France,  of  Sicily,  the  citizens  of  Ireland  shall  at  last  unite.  To  the  en 
mities  that  have  snapped  the  ties  of  citizenship,  there  shall  be  a  wise  and 
generous  termination.  Henceforth,  the  power  of  the  Island  shall  be  lodged 
in  one  head,  one  heart,  one  arm.  One  thought  shall  animate,  one  passion 
shall  inflame,  one  effort  concentrate,  the  genius,  the  enthusiasm,  the  heroism 
of  the  people. 

"Thus  united  — to  repeat  what  I  have  said  before  — let  the  demand  for 
the  reconstruction  of  the  nationality  of  Ireland  be  constitutionally  made. 


FIRST   UNCONSTITUTIONAL   SPEECH.  10J 

Depute  your   worthiest  citizens  to  approach  the  throne,  and  before  that  throne 
let  the  will  of  the  Irish  people  be  uttered   with  dignity  and  decision. 

"If  nothing  comes  of  this  —  if  the  constitution  opens  to  us  no  path  to 
freedom  —  if  the  Union  will  be  maintained  in  spite  of _  the  will  of  the  Irish 
people — if  the  government  of  Ireland  insists  upon  being  a  government  of 
dragoons  and  bombadiers,  of  detectives  and  light  infantry  —  then  up  with  the 
barricades  and  invoke  the  God  of  Battles! 

"  Should  we  succeed  —  oh !  think  of  the  joy,  the  ecstacy,  the  glory  of 
this  old  Irish  nation,  which  in  that  hour  will  grow  younger  and  stronger 
again. 

"Should  we  fail,  the  country  will  not  be  worse  than  it  is  now — the 
•3 word  of  famine  is  less  sparing  than  the  bayonet  of  the  soldier.  And  if 
we,  who  have  spoken  to  you  in  this  language,  should  fall  with  you;  or  if, 
reserved  for  a  less  glorious  death,  we  be  flung  to  the  vultures  of  the  law — then 
shall  we  recollect  the  words  of  France  —  the  promise  she  has  given  to  weak 
nations;  and  standing  upon  the  scaffold,  within  one  heart's-beat  of  eternity, 
our  last  cry  upon  this  earth  shall  be  — 

FRANCE !    FRANCE !   REVENGE  us ! " 

The  significance  of  this  speech  was  understood  and  appreciated  by  friends 
and  foes.  To  the  former  it  was  as  a  revelatio'n  —  vivifying  their  glowing 
hopes,  and  clothing  them  with  a  halo  of  glory  and  light,  that,  like  a  beat 
ific  vision,  impressed  itself  upon  the  memory  through  after  years.  To  the 
government  it  was  a  menace  and  a  warning.  That  they  anticipated  it  was 
evidenced  by  their  taking  the  precaution  to  send  an  official  reporter  to  the 
meeting;  and  that  they  made  the  fullest  use  of  the  evidence  he  supplied, 
and  with  the  least  possible  delay,  was  shown  by  their  having  both  O'Brien 
and  Meagher  arrested  for  sedition  on  the  ensuing  week.  Nor,  so  far  as  the 
latter  was  concerned,  did  their  determination  to  wreak  vengeance  on"  his 
head  end  with  their  failure  to  convict  him  of  the  minor  offense  of  sedition. 
The  trepidation  which  those  bold  utterances  of  his,  on  that  memorable  15th 
of  March  caused  in  their  cowardly,  vindictive  hearts,  was  neither  forgotten 
nor  forgiven;  and,  accordingly,  the  terror-inspiring  sentence?  were,  once 
again,  brought  into  requisition,  and  made  to  constitute  the  strongest  element 
in  the  young  rebel's  indictment,  when,  with  his  gallant  comrades,  he  stood 
rraigned  for  high  treason  in  the  dock  of  Clonmel. 

William  Smith  O'Brien,  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  and  Edward  Hollywood 
were  deputed  to  present  the  '•  Address  of  Congratulation  to  the  French 
People." 


110  MEMOTTtS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEB. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

AN  EVENTFUL  WEEK  IN  THE  IRISH  CAPITAL. 

Let  the  coward  shrink  aside, 

We'll  have  our  own  again; 
Let  the  brawling  slave  deride, 

Here's  for  our  own  again  — 
Let  the  tyrant  bribe  ana  lie, 
March,  threaten,  fortify, 
Loose  his  lawyer  and  his  spy, 

Yet  we'Jl  hare  our  own  again. 
Let  him  sooth  in  silken  tone 
Scold  from  a  foreign  throne; 
Let  him  come  with  bugles  blown, 

We  shall  have  our  own  again. 
Let  us  to  our  purpose  bide, 

We'll    have  our  own  again  — 
Let  the  game  be  fairly  tried, 

We'll  have  our  own  again." 

THOMAS   DAVIS. 

PERSONAL  OBSERVATIONS. 

It  was  at  first,  intended,  that  the  aggregate  meeting  of  the  United  Re 
pealers  of  Dublin  should  be  held  on  St.  Patrick's  Day.  A  statement  to 
that  effect  had  been  circulated  through  the  country  for  some  days  preced 
ing  the  "  National  Festival,"  and,  as  it  was  the  general  opinion  that  the 
government  would  attempt  to  play  the  "Clontarf"  game  over  again,  by 
issuing  a  ;  proclamation  "  against  the  meeting  at  the  latest  moment,  and, 
in  the  eveut  of  the  proclamation  being  disobeyed,  essay  to  disperse  the 
assemblage  by  force  of  arms,  and  so  precipitate  the  conflict  that  they  felt 
must  come,  sooner  or  later,  myself  and  comrade,  Dan.  Magrath,  determined 
on  being  present  at  the  meeting,  and  taking  part  in  the  "  opening  of  the 
ball." 

In  accordance  with  this  resolution,  we  arrived  in  Dublin  on  St.  Patrick's 
Eve,  at  about  8  P.  M.,  and  guided  by  a  young  fellow-traveller,  took  lodg 
ings  for  the  night  at  an  unpretentious  but  popular  hostelry  in  the  vicinity 
of  Smithfield-Market. 

Early  on  "St.  Patrick's  morning"  our  attention  was  attracted  by  the 
peculiarly  musical  cry  of  the  Dublin  street-venders  —  "SHAMROCKS!  XICE 


PERSONAL  OBSERVATIONS.  Ill 

GREEN  SHAMROCKS  !  —  a  penny  a  bunch ! "  On  procuring  a  specimen  of  the 
vernal  merchandise,  I  was  much  pleased  to  find  it  was  the  genuine  "Sham 
rock,"  and  not  a  "clover''  substitute  —  for  I  did  not  expect  that  city-bred 
people  possessed  the  requisite  botanical  knowledge  to  discriminate  between 
the  two. 

On  our  way  to  mass,  we,  for  the  first  time,  learned,  from  large  green 
posters  on  the  walls,  that  the  "  Great  Meeting  of  Dublin  Citizens,"  had 
been  postponed  until  Monday,  March  20th,  on  which  day  it  was  to  be  held, 
under  any  circumstances,  at  the  "  North- Wall." 

We  subsequently  learned  that  this  change  of  date  was  adopted  by  the 
Council  of  the  Confederation,  in  consequence  of  the  Conciliation  hall  leaders 
having  announced  at  their  last  meeting,  that  a  series  of  "Ward  Meetings" 
was  to  be  held  throughout  the  city  on  St.  Patrick's  Day,  for  the  purpose 
of  advancing  the  cause  of  Repeal  by  constitutional  means  —  (including,  I 
believe,  a  petition  to  "Her  Gracious  Majesty.")  The  Confederates  being  de 
sirous  of  Union  among  all  classes  of  Irish  nationalists,  and  of  taking  no 
action  that  might  give  a  semblance  of  excuse  to  others  of  less  earnestness 
of  purpose  —  thereupon  determined  to  let  their  brethren  of  Conciliation  Hall 
utilize  the  National  Festival  according  to  their  programme,  and  trust  to  hav 
ing  all  earnest  Irishmen  show  a  united  front  to  the  common  enemy  at  the 
forthcoming  aggregate  meeting. 

Having  t  ms  ascertained  that  we  had  three  days  at  our  disposal  before 
the  meeting,  we  determit.ed  to  utilize  this  interval  in  seeing  what  we  could 
ol  the  city;  but,  as  a  preliminary  step  to  our  tour  of  observation,  it  was 
advisable  to  have  a  reliable  guide,  and  him  we  were  sure  of  finding  in  an 
old  comrade  and  fellow-workman  of  Dan's,  Robert  Ward,  whose  address  was 
to  be  had  at  "  Rooney's,  saddler,  Capel  street." 

Thither  we  proceeded,  and  on  enquiring  for  Mr.  Ward,  ascertained  that 
he  had  sailed  for  America  three  weeks  before.  Much  disappointed  at  this 
untoward  intelligence,  we  were  on  our  way  to  our  lodgings,  when  Dau  sud 
denly  exclaimed,  "Why!  here's  Bob  Ward,  himself;"  and,  an  instant  after, 
with  a  similar  cry  of  recognition,  a  tall,  strapping  fellow  grasped  Dan's 
hand,  and,  after  being  introduced  to  me,  mutual  explanations  followed. 
Three  weeks  previously  Bob,  (being,  like  ourselves,  disheartened  at  the  politi 
cal  aspect  of  Irish  affairs,)  took  passage  from  Dublin  for  New  York.  When 
about  ten  days  at  sea,  the  ship  encountered  a  series  of  heavy  gales  which 
eventually  disabled  her,  and  forced  her  to  put  about  —  and  run  before  the 
wind  —  for  her  port  of  departure.  She  had  only  arrived  in  harbor  the  day 
before.  Two  days  previously,  they  learned  the  news  of  the  French  Revolu 
tion  from  an  outer-bound  vessel.  It  came  to  Bob  "  like  a  reprieve  from  the 


112  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FPANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

gallows."  It  was  actually  a  release  from  "  transportation."  He  was  then 
on  his  way  to  the  shipping  office  to  get  his  passage  money  refunded,  —  for 
the  vessel  would  be  under  repairs  for  sonu-  weeks. 

Having  accomplished  his  business  at  the  office,  Mr.  Ward  brought  us  to 
his  old  lodgings,  situated  at  the  corner  of  North  King  and  Lurgan  streets, 
and  there  we  remained,  awaiting  events,  for  the  ensuing  four  months,  dur 
ing  which  time  we  had  many  interesting  personal  experiences,  which,  hew- 
ever,  do  not  come  within  the  scope  of  thf-  present  work. 

However,  as  Robert  Ward  figured  prominently  in  some  of  the  most 
exciting  events  which  transpired  in  Dublin  during  the  period  referred  to, 
a  lew  words  concerning  his  personal  history  will  not  be  out  of  place  h<  re. 

•'  BOB.  WARD  ! "  as  he  was  familiarly  known  to  his  intimates  of  the 
Irish  Confederation  —  was  born  in  the  village  of  Ballyhale,  County  Kilkenny, 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Ca:  rickshock  —  the  scene  of  the  most  celebrated 
battle  of  the  "  Tithe-War  "  —  an  event  of  local  history  in  which  he  prided 
almost  as  much  as  he  did  in  the  "victory  of  Clontarf." 

Having  received  as  good  an  education  as  most  boys  in  his  circumstances 
had  at  the  time,  he  was  bound  apprentice  to  a  saddler  in  Carrick-on-Suir ; 
but  his  "master"  dying  before  he  had  completed  his  apprenticeship  —  he 
was  sent  to  Dublin  to  serve  the  balance  of  his  time  with  one  of  the  best- 
known  tradesmen  of  that  city.  As  a  journeyman,  he  made  a  tour  through 
the  country,  visiting,  among  other  places,  his  favorite  old  town  of  Carricn, 
and  here  it  was  that  he  first  made  the  acquaintance  of  his  fellow-craftsman, 
Dan.  Magrath,  who  was  also  "seeing  the  world"  under  like  circumstances. 
A  congenial  disposition  made  them  fast  friends,  and,  after  Bob  returned  to 
Dublin,  they  maintained  a  regular  correspondence  until  within  a  few  weeks 
of  our  meeting  in  such  a  singular  way. 

Bob  Ward  had  the  reputation  among  his  fellow  clubmen  of  being  one 
of  the  most  ultra  disciples  of  the  "  Physical  Force "  doctrine,  in  Dub 
lin;  and  in  his  discussions  with  the  partizans  of  the  "old  school,"  he  was 
ever  ready  to  maintain  his  side  of  the  argument  in  the  most  demonstrative 
manner,  as  became  a  foster  child  of  "Law-defying  Carrick." 

He  was  one  of  the  minority  who  sided  with  John  Mitchel  in  the  "Three 
Days'  Debate,"  and  it  was  the  result  of  that  friendly  contest  that  led  to 
his  sudden  resolve  to  go  to  America.  Being  an  active  member  of  the  "  Swift 
Club,"  he  proposed  that  we  shjuld  affiliate  ourselves  therewith,  and  obtain 
ing  our  consent,  he  lost  no  time  in  proposing  us  at  the  next  meeting  of 
that  body. 

Dan.  and  I  were  alroady  members  of  the  Confederate  Club  of  Cappo- 
quin,  which  was  organized  a  year  previously,  by  Mr.  John  Williams,  a 


PERSONAL    OBSERVATIONS.  113 


member  of  the  Council  of  the  Confederation.  For  this  reason,  and  because 
he  was  the  only  gentleman  of  the  central  body  to  whom  we  were  person 
ally  known,  we  felt  it  to  be  our  duty  to  report  to  Mr.  Williams  at  once, 
and  be  guided  by  his  advice  as  to  our  future  movements. 

Accordingly,  we  called  on  Mr.  Williams  at  the  Council  Rooms  of  th« 
Confederation,  and  were  received  by  him  most  warmly.  He  fully  approved 
of  our  views  in  coming  to  Dublin,  pointed  out  the  leading  members  of  the 
Council,  with  whose  names  we  had  long  been  familiar,  but  whom,  with  two 
exceptions  —  (Mr.  Duffy  and  Mr.  O'Gormau)  —  we  had  not  before  seen  per 
sonally,  and,  before  we  parted,  he  invited  me  to  visit  him  at  his  home  in 
Blackrock,  on  the  Sunday  following,  when  we  could  talk  over  the  situation 
at  leisure.  This  invitation  I  accepted,  and  while  on  my  way  by  rail  to  Black- 
rock  I  enjoyed  my  first  view  of  far-famed  "Dublin  Bay." 

During  our  interview  on  that  occasion,  Mr.  Williams  proposed  that  —  if 
nothing  untoward  took  place  at  the  meeting  on  the  day  following  —  (for, 
even  then,  no  one  could  say  what  the  Government  would  do)  —  I  should  be 
introduced  by  him  to  Mr.  Charles  Gavau  Duffy  on  the  following  Tuesday. 

THE  AGGREGATE  MEETING. 

Never  in  the  history  of  Dublin,  was  the  resolute  courage  and  calm  de 
termination  of  its  citizens  more  thoroughly  tested  than  on  the  20th  of  March, 
1848,  when,  in  face  of  a  wily,  treacherous,  and  blood-thirsty  foe,  with  twelve 
thousand  armed  cut-throats  ready  to  execute  his  orders,  they  assembled  at 
the  call  of  their  trusted  leaders  to  testify  their  admiration  of  the  throne- 
destroying  sous  of  France.  Litttle  recked  these  horny-handed  children  of 
toil,  that  the,  whilome  occupant  of  the  regal  chair  whose  crimson  flames 
illuminated  the  court-yard  of  the  Tuilleries,  was  then  the  guest  of  her  whose 
accursed  flag  flaunted  above  Birmingham  Tower  —  an  insult  and  a  menace  to 
themselves  and  their  land.  For  once,  at  least,  they  were  determined  that 
the  "Capital"  should  set  a  worthy  example  to  the  "Nation"  —  be  the 
Co u sequences  what  they  may. 

There  was  no  mistaking  the  gravity  of  the  situation.  Both  leaders  and 
followers  understood  it  \vell,  and  confronted  it  with  open  eyes,  and  spirits 
braced  for  all  eventualities.  In  the  United  Irishman  of  March  I8th,  Jol  u 
Mitchel  wrote :  — 

"Not  an  eye  in  Ireland  that  is  not  fixed  on  this  city  now.  Not  a  mail 
<juits  the  capital,  north,  south,  or  westward,  that  will  not  carry,  cut  and 
dry,  in  leathern  bags,  criticisms  on  our  bearing  and  our  spirit.  We  stand 
now  in  the  van  of  the  quarrel,  the  nearest  to  the  .enemy.  From  Cork  to 


114-  MEMOIES  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

Galway,  and  round  to  the  extreme  north,  men,  brave  men,  enslaved  men, 
ready  to  die  rather  than  endure  one  year  of  slavery  more  —  hungry  men, 
evicted  men,  enwrathed  men,  wait  intently  on  our  work,  ready  to  curse  us 
if  we  fail  — to  imitate  our  courage,  or  avenge  our  defeat." 

The  article  from  which  the  above  extract  is  taken  wound  up  with  these 
emphatic  words:  — 

"We  await  attack.  We  shall  not  provoke  the  shedding  of  blood;  but  if 
blood  be  shed,  we  will  see  the  end  of  it." 

That  the  significance  of  this  warning  note  wag  duly  appreciated  by  friends 
and  foes  —  as  it  was  read  and  pondered  over  throughout  the  land,  in  the 
brief  interval  between  its  utterance  and  the  hour  appointed  for  the  meeting 
—  may  be  taken  for  granted. 

•  On  the  morning  of  the  meeting,  the  city  of  Dublin  presented  no  sign 
that  any  unusal  event  was  about  to  occur  within  its  precincts.  There  was 
an  entire  absence  of  that  jubilant  hilarity  which  was  observable  on  the  advent 
of  the  great  Repeal  meetings  of  1843.  No  banners  fluttered  over  the  heads 
of  marching  columns;  no  bands  thrilled  their  hearts  with  the  grand  airs  of 
their  native  land ;  no  gay  laugh  accompanied  the  greeting  of  brother-nation 
alists  as  they  met  on  the  streets.  On  the  contrary,  the  countenances  of 
the  great  majority  of  way-farers  wore  a  serious,  pre-occupied  look  —  evincing 
a  settled  determination  of  purpose  and  a  spirit  of  self-reliance  and  confidence 
such  as  become  men  determined  to  fulfil  their  duty  at  all  hazards. 

But,  with  all  these  assuring  signs  among  the  men  of  purpose  and  action, 
there  was  noticeable  an  undefinable  air  of  anxiety  and  apprehension  on  the 
faces  of  the  non-combatant  public.  To  them  there  seemed  to  be  a  feeling 
of  bodeful  restlessness  in  the  air  —  the  precursor  of  an  approaching  calamity 
of  some  sort. 

No  military  appeared  on  the  streets.  All  were  confined  to  their  barracks 
awaiting  orders  from  the  Castle.  The  police  reserves  were  also  held  in  rea 
diness,  while  those  on  duty  perambulated  their  beats,  silent  and  observant. 

Soon  after  ten  o'clock,  A.  M.,  a  steady  stream  of  men  might  be  seen 
wending  its  way  down  the  line  of  quays  on  the  north  side  of  the  Lifly. 
Every  debouching  street  sent  its  contingent  to  swell  the  volume.  The  sev 
eral  bridges  spanning  the  river  were  black  with  living  torrents  whose  sources 
extended  from  Kilmainham  to  Donuybrook,  including  the  desolated  ''Liber 
ties,"  and 

"The  gloomy  Thomas  street  — where  gallant  ROBERT  died." 

Joining  the  Capel  street  current,  we  filed  down  the  quays,  and  arrived 
at  the  place  of  meeting  a  short  time  before  the  opening  of  the  proceed- 


THE  AGGREGATE  MEETING.  115 

ings.  The  numbers  then  present  were  estimated  at  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
thousand  men ;  and  a  more  resolute  and  intelligent  assemblage,  of  its  size, 
I  never  beheld.  The  platform  was  crowded  with  the  committee  of  the 
meeting,  the  movers  and  seconders  of  resolutions,  (who  were  distinguished 
by  wearing  green  rosettes,)  the  deputies  of  the  various  trades,  and  the 
leading  men  of  the  Irish  Confederation. 

These  latter  gentlemen  included  Richard  O'Gorman,  Senior,  (who  had 
been  unanimously  accorded  the  privilege  of  occupying  the  post  of  honor  and 
of  danger  on  that  critical  occason  as  Chairman  of  the  meeting,)  William 
Smith  O'Brien,  Richard  O'Gorman,  Junior,  Charles  Gavau  Duffy,  John  Mitchel, 
Thomas  Devin  Reillv,  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  Charles  Taaffe,  barrister, 
John  O'Hagan,  barrister,  Patrick  J.  Barry,  Thomas  D.  Magee,  James  Doyle, 
John  Fisher  Murray,  John  Williams,  P.  O'Douahue,  Francis  Morgan,  Martin 
O'Flaherty,  R.  D.  Ireland,  John  A.  Curran,  J.  B.  Watson,  Doctor  Duffy, 
Dr.  West,  &c.,  &c. 

Mr.  John  B.  Dillon  was  prevented  by  sickness  from  being  present,  as 
he  intended. 

After  a  brief  address  from  the  Chairman,  Mr.  John  Mitchel  brought  up 
the  address  to  the  citizens  of  the  French  Republic,  and,  after  a  clear  and 
comprehensive  statement  of  the  work  achieved  by  the  men  of  France  in 
their  several  revolutions  during  the  past  sixty  years,  he  read  the  address, 
and  moved  its  adoption,  and  its  presentation  in  Paris  by  a  deputation  from 
the  meeting. 

Mr.  Ryan,  (cabinet-maker,)  on  behalf  of  the  Trades  of  Dublin,  seconded 
the  motion  —  which  passed  unanimously. 

The  meeting  was  subsequently  addressed  by  the  following  distinguished 
Confederates,  in  the  order  of  their  names :  — 

Richard  O'Gorman,  Junior,  T.  D.  Magee,  T.  F.  Meagher,  T.  D.  Reilly, 
C.  G.  Duffy,  P.  O'Donohue,  and  William  Smith  O'Brien. 

From  Meagher's  speech  I  select  the  following  extracts.  They  are  sig 
nificant  in  view  of  the  hopes  entertained  by  the  Irish  people  of  to-day  of 
the  English  democracy  :  — 

"I  am  happy  to  tell  you  that  I  had  the  honor  of  addressing  15,000 
stout  men  in  Manchester  upon  that  night,*  English  and  Irish,  —  Chartist  and 
Repealers. 

"  Oh !  we  have  been  guilty  of  sad  injustice  in  our  abuse  of  the  English 
democracy.  The  democrats  of  England  are  brave,  intelligent,  noble  fellows, 

•  St.  Patrick's  night. 


110  MEMOIR S  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANCLS  ME  \G1IKR. 

and  they  will  stand  by  you  in  the  worst  extremity.  Let  the  Government 
ghed  one  drop  of  blood  in  Ireland,  and  the  sky  that  spans  the  shores  of 
England  will  scare  them  with  the  signs  of  a  desperate  retribution.  Man 
chester,  Liverpool,  every  great  town  in  the  manufacturing  districts,  will 
answer  the  fire  that  deals  destruction  upon  the  Irish  people.  *  *  * 

"Whoever    may  act  the  traitor  —  the  petty  lawyerling  —  the  coward  here 

—  there  is  a  power  in  England  that  will  repeal  the  Union,  if  Irishmen  have 
not  the  honest  bravery  to  do  so." 

On  the  motion  of  Mr.  Duffy,  Mr.  Richard  O'Gorman,  Jr.,  Mr.  John  B. 
Dillon,  and  Mr.  Redmond  were v  appointed  as  the  deputation  by  whom  the 
address  was  to  be  presented  to  the  people  of  France. 

The  meeting  adjourned,  and  the  speakers  and  committee,  accompanied  by 
an  immense  crowd  proceeded  clown  the  quays.  The  multitude  cheered  most 
enthusiastically  when  passing  Conciliation  Hall. 

On  arriving  opposite  the  Committee-rooms  in  Westmoreland  street,  they 
halted,  and  were  addressed  from  a  window  by  Mr.  Meagher  and  Mr.  O'Brien, 
who  thanked  them  for  the  manner  in  which  they  had  performed  their  duty 
to  their  country,  and  advised  them  to  disperse  in  a  peaceful  and  orderly 
way  —  after  giving  one  cheer  for  the  combination  of  all  Irishmen. 

The  concourse  then  dispersed  to  their  several  homes.  While  the  main 
body  were  passing  through  College  Green  they  met  General  Blakeney,  com 
mander  of  the  forces  in  Ireland,  and  another  mounted  officer.  The  bluff  old 
general  was  evidently  a  favorite  with  the  Dubliners,  for  they  made  an 
avenue  for  him  to  pass  through,  and  cheered  him  loudly  on  the  way.  He 
and  his  companion  were  the  only  uniformed  soldiers  encountered  by  those 
who  attended  the  meeting  on  that  day. 

"  CONSTITUTIONAL  "    WARFARE. 

But,  if  deterred  by  Meagher's  threat  of  French  vengeance  from  carrying 
out  his  first  intentions  of  letting  loose  his  armed  mercenaries  on  the  de- 
fencess  citizens  of  Dublin,  Her  Gracious  Majesty's  Vicegerant  was  detei  mined 
to  wreak  vengeance  on  the  men  by  whose  advice  he  and  his  cut-throats 
had  been  set  at  defiance,  and  to  accomplish  his  work  in  a  less  risky  style 

—  choosing  his  own  ground,   and  his  own  weapons. 

Held3t.no  time,  either,  in  opening  his  masked  batteries.  On  the  day 
after  the  meeting  of  the  Trades  and  Citizens  of  Dublin,  informations  were 
sworn  at  the  Head  Police  Office  against  Messrs.  William  Smith  O'Brien, 
Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  and  John  Mitchel,  the  two  former  for  having  ut- 


PERSONAL    OBSERVATIONS.  117 

tered  "  seditious "  speeches  at  the  meeting  of  the  Irish  Confederation  held 
in  the  Music  Hall  on  the  15th  of  March,  the  latter  for  the  publication  of 
three  "seditious"'  articles  in  the  United  Irishman  newspaper. 

In  the  course  of  the  evening,  each  of  the  above  gentlemen  was  waited 
upon  by  Mr.  Frank  Thorpe  Porter,  (the  genial  Police  Justice)  and  received 
notice  to  appear  with  bull  at  the  Head  (Mice  the  next  morning  before 
twelve  o'clock. 

When  the  news  was  published  in  the  morning  papers,  it  created  consid 
erable  excitement  throughout  the  city,  and,  as  the  hour  for  the  appearance 
of  the  accused  at  the  Police  Office  drew  near,  the  vicinity  of  the  Council 
Rooms  and  of  the  United  Irishman  office  was  thronged  by  a  concourse  of 
citizens,  who  accompanied  the  gentlemen  and  their  bail  to  their  destination. 

Passing  up  Dame  street,  the  multitude  had  the  appearance  of  a  triumphal 
procession,  the  broad  thoroughfare  being  filled  from  curb  to  curb  by  the 
tramping  mass  of  resolute  looking  men,  while  the  side-walks  were  equally 
crowded  with  a  promiscuous  concourse  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes  —  with 
flushed  faces  and  flashing  eyes.  In  fact,  the  whole  appearance  of  things- 
wore  a  decidedly  healthy,  revolutionary  aspect,  the  spirits  of  the  people  being 
more  •  ffusive  and  less  restrained  than  on  the  occasion  of  the  meeting  two- 
days  before. 

Being  bound  to  participate  in  whatever  popular  movements  came  under 
our  observation,  myself  and  comrades  found  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  the 
excited  throng  which  surged  up  the  steps  leading  from  the  street  to  the 
door  of  the  Head  Office.  In  a  few  moments  the  apartment  was  crowded, 
and  the  guard  at  the  door  objected  to  any  more  entering. 

AN  UNCONVENTIONAL  INTRODUCTION. 

CHARLES  GAVAX  DUFFY  had  just  obtained  admission  after  the  exchange 
of  some  sharp  words  with  the  policeman.  THOMAS  DEVIN  REILLY  came 
next,  but  was  peremptorily  refused  admittance  just  as  he  stood  on  the 
threshold.  He  gave  vent  to  his  feelings  in  language  more  emphatic  than 
polite  —  as  befitted  the  occasion.  I  was  jammed  close  behind  him  in  the 
crowd,  and  cried  out,  impulsively,  "Never  mind,  my  boy;  sure  they  only  left 
you  in  the  position  you  must  take  one  of  these  days  —  that  of  '  The  Man 
in  the  Gap ! '  "  The  remark  seemed  to  restore  his  native  good  humor,  for, 
turning  pleasantly  round,  he  asked,  "Where  did  you  come  from?'*  (My 
Munster  accent,  I  suppose,  showing  that  I  was  a  stranger  in  Dublin).  I 
satisfied  him  as  to  all  he  required  to  know  at  the  time,  as  we  walked  away 
together  from  the  crowd,  and  waited  for  the  traversers  to  emerge  from  the 
office  after  perfecting  their  recognizances. 


118  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

Such  was  the  manner  of  my  introduction  to  the  man,  with  whom,  of 
of  all  the  leading  Confederates,  I  was,  while  he  lived,  on  terms  of  closest 
personal  intimacy.  I  shall  have  more  to  say  of  him  in  the  course  of  this 
memoir. 

When  Messrs.  O'Brien,  Mitchel  and  Meagher  came  out  into  the  street, 
they  were  received  with  loud  cheers  by  the  immense  crowd  which  had  col 
lected.  Escorted  by  the  multitude,  they  proceeded  to  the  Council  Rooms  of 
the  Irish  Confederation  in  D'Olier  street.  When  they  arrived  there  every 
lamp-post  and  window  in  the  vicinity  was  crowded  with  spectators,  while  a 
dense  mass  filled  the  street  below.  It  rained  heavily  by  this  time,  but  that 
had  no  apparent  effect  on  the  spirits  of  the  people. 

Messrs.  O'Brien,  Mitchel,  Meagher,  Doheny  and  O'Gorman,  addressed  the 
enthusiastic  assembly  in  ringing  speeches  from  the  windows  of  the  Council 
Rooms.  In  the  course  of  Mitchel's  remarks,  he  said,  u  They  have  indicted 
me  for  '  sedition,'  but  I  tell  them  that  I  mean  to  commit  '  HIGH  TREASON.'  " 
The  cool,  matter-of-fact  way  in  which  he  announced  his  intentions,  electrified 
the  crowd,  but  it  did  not  appear  to  astonish  any  one,  for  not  a  man  of  the 
ten  thousand  present,  but  believed  him  in  his  soul.  I  may  state  here  that 
Mitchel's  speech  was  not  reported  as  delivered  —  the  daily  papers  not  wish 
ing  to  risk  the  consequences  of  publishing  such  treasonable  utterances.  But 
the  words  I  have  quoted,  I  heard,  and  they  left  a  lasting  impression  on  my 
memory. 

MEAGHER'S   SPEECH. 
(MARCH   22,   1848.) 

At  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Mitchel,  Mr.  Meagher  presented  himself  at  the 
window  amidst  the  most  enthusiastic  cheering,  and  spoke  as  follows :  — 

"Citizens  of  Dublin, —  I  seize  this  opportunity  —  the  last  I  shall  have 
previous  to  my  departure  for  Franca  —  to  tell  you  my  mind  with  regard  to 
my  present  position.  Informations  have  been  sworn  against  me  for  a  sedi 
tious  speech,  and  I  have  been  bound  over  to  appear  in  the  Queen's  Bench 
upon  the  15th  day  of  Apiil.  Now,  I  think  it  my  duty  to  tell  you,  that 
from  this  moment  out  it  will  be  my  sole  aim  and  study  to  aggravate  that 
crime,  and  devote  the  few  days  that  I  may  be  at  liberty  to  the  utterance 
of  nothing  else  but  sedition.  Do  you  think  that  I  am  ashamed  to  be 
charged  with  having  spoken  seditious  sentiments?  Why,  my  friends,  I  glory 
in  having  done  so;  and  feel  prouder  this  moment  in  being  scouted  by  this 
sanguinary  government  as  the  propagandist  of  sedition,  than  if  I  sat  in 
ermine  and  red  cloth  upon  the  bench,  and  was  revered  as  the  stoutest  limb 


MEAGHEITS  SPEECH. 


or  the  brightest  light  of  the  law.  As  I  speak  to  you  now,  so  shall  I  speak 
to  the  judge,  the  jury,  and  the  prosecuting  underlings  of  this  Thug-like 
government.  I  shall  tell  them  to  their  faces  that  I  have  spoken  sedition, 
and  that  I  glory  in  it.  The  language  of  sedition  is  the  language  of  free 
dom.  There  shall  be  no  duplicity  in  this  matter,  I  am  guilty  of  an  attempt 
to  sow  disaffection  in  the  minds  of  the  people. —  I  am  guilty  of  an  attempt 
to  overthrow  this  government,  which  keeps  its  f  -oting  on  our  soil  by  sheer 
brute  force,  and  by  nothing  else.  And  this  I  tell  you,  that  until  that  gov 
ernment  be  thoroughly  upset,  I  shall  not  cease  to  write,  to  speak,  to  act 
sedition.  One  circumstance  alone  shall  stop  me  in  this  career  —  my  death. 
In  their  courts  of  law  we  shall  take  issue  with  them  boldly  and  desperately. 
If  we  do  not  throw  them  there,  we  shall  throw  them  on  a  broader  field. 
It  must  be  done.  The  news  this  morning  announces  that  Vienna  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  people.  Dublin  must  be  in  the  hands  of  the  people.  Stand  by 
us,  citizens,  and  it  shall  be  done.  In  standing  by  us,  you  do  not  stand  by 
a  few  misguided  young  men  —  you  stat.d  by  immortal  principles.  There  must 
be  union  —  there  will  be  union.  I  am  proud  to  tell  you  that  Mr.  Maurice 
O'Connell  held  out  to  me  the  hand  of  fraternity  this  day.  I  thank  him 
sincerely  and  deeply.  I  thank  him,  not  for  the  personal  compliment  he  has 
thus  paid  me,  but  for  the  service  he  has  done  the  cause  of  Ireland  by  this 
frank  and  generous  act.  They  threaten,  indeed,  to  put  down  the  United 
Irishman.  Why,  my  friends,  it  is  not  one  United  Irishman  they  must  put 
down,  but  five  millions  of  United  Irishmen.  For  two  years  we  have  fought 
their  corrrupiion,  now  we  shall  fight;  their  coercion.  We  opposed  free  hearts 
to  the  former  —  we  shall  oppose  the  latter  with  armed  hands  — 

" '  Let  them  soothe,  with  silken  tone, 
Scold  from  a  foreign  throne 
(Aye)  —  or  come  with  bugles  bown 
We'll  have  our  own  again.'  " 

(Mr.  Meagher  retired  amidst  the  most  enthusiastic  and  deafening  cheering.) 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

IN   THE   CITY   OF  THE   BARRICADES. 

The  Irish  deputies  arrived  in  Paris  towards  the  end  of  March.  On 
Monday,  April  3d,  according  to  a  prearranged  appointment  with  the  Pro 
visional  Government,  Mr.  Smith  O'Brien  and  the  other  members  of  the  Irish 


120  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

Confederation  proceeded  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville  to  present  their  address. 
They  were  received,  on  behalf  of  the  Provisional  Government,  by  its 
President,  M.  de  Lamartine,  a  dandified  humbug  and  poet  of  the  Sybarite 
school,  whom,  in  an  evil  hour,  the  gallant  French  people  entrusted  with  the 
des'inies  of  their  newly-enfranchised  nation. 

Besides  the  address  of  the  Irish  Confederation,  addresses  were  presented 
at  the  same  time  by  Mr.  Richard  O'Gormau,  Jun.,  from  the  citizens  of 
Dublin,  by  Mr.  Meagher  for  the  Repealers  of  Manchester;  and  by  Mr. 
MacDermott  from  the  members  of  the  Irish  Confederation  resident  in  Liver 
pool. 

M.  de  Lamartine  replied  to  the  whole  of  these  addresses  in  one  speech, 
which,  while  abounding  in  sentimental  platitudes,  and  artful  allusions  to  the 
reciprocity  of  friendly  feelings  long  existing  between  France  and  Ireland, 
and  avowing  that  they  "  belonged  to  no  party  in  Ireland,  or  elsewhere, 
except  that  which  contends  for  justice,  for  liberty,  and  for  the  happiness  of 
the  Irish  people,"  went  on  to  declare  that  it  was  their  "cesire  to  remain 
at  peace  with  all  nations  that  are  involved  in  internal  disputes,  not  being 
competent  either  to  judge  them  or  prefer  some  of  them  to  others,"  &c. 

At  the  conclusion  of  his  speech,  M.  de  Lamartine  again  '.hanked  the 
deputation,  who  then  withdrew. 

The  interview  had  been  originally  fixed  for  the  previous  Saturday,  but 
was  deferred  till  Monday,  on  account  of  a  division  in  the  provisional  gov 
ernment  as  to  the  reply  which  should  be  given.  Ledru  Rollin  was  for 
sending  instant  assi-tance  to  Ireland,  but  Lamartine  desired  to  give  the 
same  answer  as  was  given  to  the  Poles. 

His  answer  was,  of  course,  highly  appreciated  by  the  persecutoi  s  of  the 
Poles  and  the  Irish.  Such  was  the  comfort  derived  therefrom  by  the  British 
Government,  that,  before  the  week  was  out,  extracts  from  it  were  ostenta 
tiously  placarded  on  the  walls  of  every  police-barrack  in  Ireland. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  oracular  utterances  of  her  lackadaisical  figure 
head,  France  had  many  earnest  sympathizers  with  the  cause  of  Irish  liberty, 
^nd  among  these  the  first  to  proffer  their  aid  was 

THE  UNITED  IRISH  CLUB. 

This  body,  consisting  of  a  number  of  the  Irish  resident  in  Paris,  waited 
upon  Mr.  O'Brien  and  his  associates  on  their  arrival  in  the  city,  and 
presented  them  with  an  address  warmly  complimentary  in  expression,  and 
concluding  in  these  words  :  — 


THE  IEISH  CLUB. 


"  We  offer  you,  gentlemen,  our  hearts,  our  hands,  our  lives,  to  assist 
jou  in  this  struggle. 

"JOHN  PATRICK  LEONARD,  President. 
"LANE,  Vice-President. 
"  O'RYAN,        CASHIN,       FITZGERALD, 
"  HIGGINS,       NESBITT,      MARRON, 
"FARRELL,     &C.,  &C." 

The  following  reply  of  the  deputation  was  read  by  Mr.   O'Brien :  — 

"  We  receive  with  profound  satisfaction  the  address  you  have  presented 
to  us. 

"Let  us  share  the  affection  and  confidence  of  those  who  love  Ireland. 
Every  new  proof  of  sympathy  renders  us  more  able  to  serve  the  cause  of 
our  country.  The  satisfaction  which  we  feel  arises  above  all  from  the  fact, 
that  we  have  found  there  are  in  Paris,  Irishmen  who  are  determined  to 
unite  their  efforts  to  those  of  the  Irish  people,  in  reconquering  the  national 
independence.  Though  we  have  been  in  France  but  a  few  days,  we  have, 
nevertheless,  seen  and  heard  enough  to  have  the  conviction  that  the  French 
nation  is  deeply  moved  by  the  indignities  and  sufferings  we  have  endured. 
We  have  seen  and  heard  enough  to  feel  assured  that,  were  Ireland  to 
demand  assistance,  France  would  be  ready  to  send  50,000  of  her  bravest 
citizens  to  fight  with  her  for  liberty.  We  offer  to  the  French  our  sincere 
thanks  for  their  generous  sympathy.  That  sympathy  may  be  to  us  later  a 
great  assistance;  but  we  feel  that  the  liberty  of  Ireland  should  be  conquered 
by  the  energy,  the  devotion,  and  the  courage,  of  her  own  children.  Without 
the  manifestation  of  these  virtues,  liberty,  if  even  acquired,  would  offer  no 
guarantee  of  durability. 

"Fellow-countrymen,  you  know  what  are  our  views.  We  are  happy  to 
find  that  you  are  ready  to  second  them.  We  have  not  yet  ceased  to  hope 
that  the  great  question  now  depending  between  the  English  government  and 
the  people  of  Ireland  may  be  settled  by  conciliatory  means;  but  the  best 
way  of  attaining  that  desirable  end  is  to  follow  the  example  given  us  by 
our  fathers  in  1782,  by  firmly  organizing  a  field  of  action  the  most  vigorous, 
and  the  most  energetic. 

"  We  have  already  advised  our  fellow-countrymen  to  prepare  themselves 
for  the  contest  by  procuring  arms  and  habituating  themselves  to  the  use  of 
them.  We  give  you  to-day  the  same  advice,  and  it  is  to  men  of  tried  valor 
that  we  address  ourselves.  We  do  not  wish  to  have  with  us  but  men  who 
are  ready  to  die  on  the  scaffold,  or  on  the  field  of  battle.  We  learn  with 
extreme  pleasure  that  many  of  you  fought  in  the  first  rank  with  the  heroes 


122  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHER. 

of  the  barricades  of  February  24.  In  that  devotion  to  the  cause  of  liberty 
which  you  pushed  so  far  as  to  hazard  your  lives  in  a  contest  which  could 
bring  you  no  personal  advantage,  we  see  the  pledge  of  that  heroism  which 
you  will  show  with  an  equal,  if  not  with  a  greater  ardor,  if  it  be  necessary 
to  fight  for  the  liberty  of  Ireland.  We  accept  the  acknowledgement,  the 
fraternal  concurrence  which  you  offer  us.  Your  position  here  puts  it  at  the 
same  time  in  your  power  to  serve  your  country  with  efficaciousness.  Extend 
your  association.  See  that  it  embraces  all  the  patriot  Irish  inhabiting  France. 
Accustom  yourselves  to  military  exercises,  and  the  study  of  strategy.  Fra 
ternize  with  the  Irish  officers  in  the  French  service;  their  experience  will 
second  your  efforts.  Merit  the  sympathy  of  the  French  who  surround  you. 

u  Act  on  the  public  opinion  of  France,  through  the  press,  and  by  all  the 
means  in  your  power.  Glorify  by  your  example  the  name  and  the  character 
of  your  country,  in  this  the  centre  of  European  civilization  and  universal 
liberty. 

"  We  have  in  France  brave,  active  and  intelligent  friends ;  in  Germany 
we  have  friends  —  we  have  friends  in  Belgium,  in  Rome,  and  in  Spain  —  we 
possess  numerous  and  influential  ones  in  America.  All  these  friends  should, 
without  delay,  organize  themselves  into  local  associations,  with  an  object 
analogous  to  that  which  we  propose  to  you.  Every  patriot  Irishman  iuhab- 
.ting  a  foreign  country  should  consider  himself  as  a  missionary  of  liberty  for 
his  country.  Let  us  enclose  England  in  a  circle  of  nations  desiring  the 
freedom  of  Ireland,  prepared  to  sustain  her  morally  and  physically,  to  restore 
to  her  her  national  rights.  Let  Irishmen,  especially,  show  that  they  possess 
all  the  virtues  necessary  to  give  her  the  dignity  of  a  nation.  Before  aspiring 
to  be  free,  we  should  show  that  we  deserve  to  be  so.  Let  us  also  prove 
that  we  have  resolved,  and  are  capable  of  conquering  and  preserving  the 
liberty  of  our  country. 

"  In  this  spirit  we  receive  your  address  with  pride,  and  with  acknowl 
edgement,  as  a  proof  that  you  are  determined  to  second  us,  not  in  a  secret 
conspiracy,  but  in  a  loyal  and  courageous  effort  to  restore  to  Ireland  her 
national  independence. 

"  (Signed)  WILLIAM  SMITH  O'BRIEN.    THOMAS  F.  MEAGHER. 

"MARTIN    M'DERMOTT.  RICHARD    O'GORMAN. 

"Eow.  HOLLYWOOD.  EUGENE  O'REILLY." 


ME A  G HER  IN  PARIS. 


CHAPTER     XXIII. 

MEAGHER  IN  PARIS. 

"We'll  show  them  FRENCH  authority  for  wearing  of  the  Green." 

OLD  SONG. 

A  DISTINGUISHED  FRANCO-IRISHMAN. 

JOHN  PATRICK  LEONARD  was  probably  the  best  known  Irishman  domiciled 
In  Paris  lor  over  half  a  century.  He  was  born  in  1814,  in  the  Cove  of  Cork. 
While  yet  under  age  he  emigrated  to  France,  and  entered  the  College  of 
the  Sorbonne,  with  the  intention  of  studying  for  the  medical  profession.  He, 
however,  altered  his  plans  subsequently,  and  became  an  instructor  of  the 
English  language.  In  a  short  time  thereafter,  he  was  appointed  Professor  of 
English  Language  and  Literature  in  the  Municipal  College  Chaptal  of  the 
Paris  University.  He  held  this  position  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  after 
•  hich  time  he  was  appointed  to  a  similar  office  in  the  Naval  College,  St. 
IWbe,  from  which,  in  his  seventieth  year,  he  retired  on  a  pension. 

During  the  Franco-Prussian  war,  Mr.  Leonard  served  as  Inspector-General 
of  the  Ambulance  Corps,  Army  of  the  Northwest,  and  received  the  Cross  of 
the  Legion  of  Honor — "for  personal  services  on  the  field  of  battle."  In 
addition  he  received  the  decoration  of  the  Cross  of  Geneva,  and,  a  few  years 
before  his  death,  the  honorable  literary  distinction  of  being  created  an 
"  Officier  d'Academie "  was  conferred  upon  him.  He  was  well  known  acd 
esteemed  in  Paris  society,  many  of  his  pupils  being  among  the  highest  in 
the  land.  He  entertained  a  great  affection  for  Marshal  MacMahou,  and  the 
illustrious  old  hero  liked  him  better  than  any  Irishman  in  Paris.  When,  in 
1860,  Ireland  presented  a  sword  of  honor  of  Irish  manufacture  to  Marshal 
MacMahon,  at  the  camp  near  Chalons,  Mr.  Leonard,  as  chairman  of  the 
deputation,  made  the  presentation  speech.  The  other  deputies  were  Dr. 
Sigerson  and  Mr.  T.  D.  Sullivan,  of  Dublin.  John  Mitchel,  who  had  just 
then  arrived  in  Paris  from  America,  was  invited  to  make  one  of  the  party. 
In  his  "Journal,"  published  at  the  time,  he  gave  an  interesting  account  of 
the  presentation  ceremonies,  which  were  participated  in  by  several  distin 
guished  officers  of  Irish  extraction,  specially  invited  by  the  Marshal  for  the 
occasion. 

Mr.  Leonard  was  a  warm  personal  friend  of  John  Mitchel  and  his  family. 
He  acted  as  chief  mourner  at  the  funeral  of  the  patriot's  eldest  daughter, 
Henrietta,  who,  in  the  absence  of  her  parents  from  Paris,  died  suddenly  at 


124  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

the  Convent  of  the  Sacre  Cceur,  where,  a  short  time  before,  she  had  tak<  n 
the  veil  as  a  sister  of  Charity.  She  was  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  Mount 
Parnasse. 

During  the  greater  portion  of  his  career  in  Paris,  Mr.  Leonard  was  a 
correspondent  of  the  Irish  national  press,  and  through  him  every  incident  of 
interest  to  Ireland  transpiring  in  France  was  duly  recorded.  An  esteemed 
associate  of  the  "  Anciens  Irlandais " — the  descendants  of  the  old  "Irish  Bri 
gade  "  and  the  "  Irish  Legion "  of  Napoleon's  time  —  he  acted  as  their 
accredited  chronicler,  performing  the  duties  of  an  old  Gaelic  Chief  Seo,nachie, 
recording  their  military  services  on  the  battle-field  and  their  promodons  to 
important  offices  of  State  in  civil  life;  their  births  and  deaths  and  their 
"  Patrick's  Day  Festivities  "—  where  — 

"Up,  erect,  with  nine  times  nine  — 'Hip,  hip,  hip  — Hurrah!' 
Drank  'Erin  Slalnte  geal  go  bragh!'  those  exiles  far  away." 

Himself  an  ardent,  life-long  Irish  Nationalist,  Mr.  Leonard  had  ever  a 
warm  welcome  for  his  fellow-countrymen  of  kindred  feelings,  who,  by  the 
vicissitudes  of  fortune,  were  compelled  to  seek  a  temporary  asylum  in  the 
city  of  his  adoption. 

He  died  on  the  6th  of  August,  1889.  His  funeral,  which  took  place  on 
the  9th  of  that  month,  was  attended  by  a  numerous  and  highly  representa 
tive  body  of  his  friends  and  admirers.  The  remains,  escorted  by  a  detachment 
of  the  76th  Regiment  of  the  Line,  as  a  guard  of  honor,  were  conveyed  to 
the  Crypt  of  the  Church  of  St.  Francois  cle  Sales  for  temporary  interment, 
until  arrangements  could  be  made  for  having  them  transferred  to  Ireland  — 
in  accordance  with  the  faithful  exile's  expressed  desire  to  be  buried  with 
his  forefathers. 

His  wish  was  sacredly  observed.  On  Sunday,  October  27th,  his  body 
arrived  in  Cork  from  Paris,  in  charge  of  his  fellow-townsman,  Mr.  C.  G. 
Doran.  The  coffin  was  brought  from  the  quay  to  the  College  of  the 
Presentation  Brothers,  where  it  lay  until  the  afternoon  when,  escorted  by 
the  Mayor  and  many  leading  citizens  of  Cork,  it  was  conveyed  to  Cove. 
There  a  funeral  procession  was  formed  which  proceeded  to  the  ancient 
churchyard  of  Barrymore,  where  the  remains  of  this  sterling  patriot  were 
consigned  to  "kindred  Irish  clay." 

Mr.   Leonard  was,  for  many  years,   engaged  in   preparing  a  record  of  his 
recollections    which    will    be    published    by  his    daughter    and    only    surviving 
child.     It  will  appear  in   both   French   and  English.     It  is  entitled 
"REMINISCENCES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  IN  FRANCE." 

During    the    author's    lifetime    he    published    occasional  extracts  from   the 


A  DISTINGUISHED   FRANCO-1RI9UXAX-  125 

volume,    one    of    which    gives    the    following    interesting  account 
6f  Meagher'B  visit  to  Paris,   in  1848: 

RECOLLECTIONS  OF  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

"  Meagher  was  only  three  or  four  years  out  of  his  teens  when  he  came  to 
Paris  with  the  deputation  in  April,  1848.  It  was,  I  believe,  his  first  visit 
to  the  great  city,  and  we  were  constantly  together  during  his  short  stay. 
There  was  nothing  particularly  remarkable  in  his  personal  appearance  except 
his  large,  blue  eyes,  beaming  with  intellect  and  wit.  He  was  slightly  in 
clined  to  embonpoint,  but  his  strong,  well-built  frame,  and  his  elastic  step, 
showed  that,  though  at  times  he  seemed  listless  and  lazy,  he  had,  as  he 
proved  fully  after,  great  physical  activity  and  endurance  when  necessary. 

"The  electric  atmosphere  of  the  revolutionary  city  constantly  roused 
him  from  that  apparent  apathy  in  which  he  indulged  at  times.  Alive  to 
everything  in  the  changing  scenes  around,  his  imperfect  knowledge  of 
French  never  prevented  him  from  understanding  or  guessing  at  what  was 
said.  We  wandered  together  about  the  city,  visiting  the  churches,  the  hos 
pitals,  the  salons  of  the  rich  and  the  hovels  of  the  poor,  mixing  and  con 
versing  with  people  of  all  classes  and  opinions,  from  the  millionaire  to  the 
ouvrier. 

"We,  of  course,  went  often  to  the  theatre,  and  our  first  visit  to  the 
celebrated  Theatre  Fraucais  I  nevei  shall  forget.  I  was  on  guard  as  a  full 
private  in  the  National  Guard  (there  were  no  regular  soldiers  in  the  city,) 
and  was  the  sentinel  at  the  door,  when  my  two  noble  countrymen,  William 
Smith  O'Brien  and  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  came.  A  friend  relieved  me, 
and  I  went  in  with  my  two  friends.  We  took  our  places  in  the  orchestra 
quite  close  to  the  stage.  I  never  go  to  that  theatre  since  without  thinking 
of  that  memorable  night  when  I  sat  between  two  noble  patriots,  who  a 
few  months  after  were  condemned  to  be  hanged  and  quartered,  and  saved 
only  lor  that  worse  fate,  exile,  of  which  the  greatest  poet  living  said: 

'  Le  proscrit  est  un  mort  son  tombeau.'' 

Men  possessing  then  everything  that  gives  a  charm  to  life  —  health,  fortune, 
consideration,  family,  and  friends.  The  greatest  actress  of  our  times,  Rachel, 
played  '  Phedre,'  the  part  in  which  she  won  the  highest  place  in  her  art, 
and  which  she  OBly  consented  to  play  in  after  studying  for  years.  We  lis 
tened  to  Racine's  noble  tragedy  with  rapt  attention  and  admiration,  and 
never,  perhaps,  did  the  unrivalled  actress  do  more  justice  to  the  part  and 
excite  more  enthusiasm  and  applause.  But  there  was  a  sequel  to  the  great 
tragedy,  and  one  that  thrilled  the  whole  audience  and  deeply  moved  my 


J2e  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

two  friends.  A  few  minutes  after  the  piece  was  ended  the  curtain  rose- 
and  Rachel  advanced  slowly  towards  the  footlights  and  began  Rouget  de 
Lisle's  immortal  'Marseillaise.'  It  was  neither  singing  nor  declamation,  but 
it  was  something  so  real  and  entrancing  that  it  seemed  beyond  art  and 
above  criticism.  Close  beside  her  hung  the  tricolor  flag.  When  she  reached 
those  soul-stirring  words,  '  Amour  sacre  de  la  patrie^  she  seized  it,  and,  rais 
ing  it  on  high,  gave  the  last  stanza  with  such  feeling,  passion  and  emotion, 
that  the  audience  rose,  and  a  burst  of  thundering  applause  shook  the  whole 
house.  Meagher  was  greatly  excited,  and  must  have  looked  as  he  did  when 
he  led  his  brave  Irish  soldiers  to  the  charge,  in  civil  war,  ala-s !  and  far 
from  the  land  he  loved  and  from  which  he  was  an  exile.  For  an  hour 
after  we  spoke  only  of  the  '  Marseillaise,'  forgetting  '  Phedre '  and  the  great 
tragedy  entirely. 

"  That  wonderful  actor,  Frederick  Lemaitre,  was  at  that  time  playing 
*  Robert  Macaire '  —  that  cynical  photography  of  vice,  degradation  and  impos 
ture,  that  had  such  a  baneful  effect  on  public  moral*  that  it  was  suppressed 
for  some  time.  Nothing  astonished  Meagher  more  than  the  acting  of  the  great 
artist,  and  little  escaped  him  in  the  allusion  made  to  the  vices  of  the  great 
people  and  the  degradation  of  the  lower  classes.  Frederic,  as  he  was  called, 
had  not  yet  played  the  part  of  the  Chiffonier  de  Paris,  in  which  he  was 
still  more  remarkable;  and  appropos  of  that  well  known  piece  I  shall  make 
a  short  digression. 

"I  was  present  at  the  first  representation  and  in  a  box  next  to  the  one 
tn  which  Rachel  sat  deeply  moved  by  the  great  actor's  wonderful  personi 
fication  of  a  character  that  threatens  to  become  obsolete  at  present.  In  a 
most  dramatic  passage  of  the  piece  Rachel  advanced,  her  pale  face  beaming 
with  emotion,  and  addressing  Lepeinere,  an  eminent  actor,  she  said :  '•Man  ami, 
c'est  ce  que  fai  vu  de  plus  beau  dans  ma  me"1 — 'My  friend,  that  is  the  finest 
thing  I  fver  saw  in  my  life'  —  wcrds  that  Lemaitre,  when  he  heard  them, 
declared  that  he  prized  far  beyond  the  applause  of  the  public  or  the  praise 
of  the  critics. 

"The  real  chiffoniers  did  not  escape  Meagher's  notice,  however,  and  one 
night,  on  returning  from  the  theatre,  we  came  upon  one.  He  was  at  the 
door  of  one  of  the  great  restaurants  on  the  Boulevard  des  Italiens,  with 
his  lantern  in  one  hand  and  his  '•hotte^  or  basket  on  his  back,  and  was 
with  hia  'crochet'  extracting  from  a  heap  of  rubbish  all  sorts  of  strange 
things,  which  he  tossed  into  his  hotte  —  crusts  of  bread,  bones,  remains  of 
fish,  fowl,  and  vegetables  —  the  ingredients,  in  fact,  of  that  dish  which  Eu 
gene  Sue,  in  his  'Mysteries  of  Paris,'  calls  '  le  plat  du  chourrineur.'1  There 


EECOLLECTIONS  0*    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER.  127 

were  old  rags,  old  shoes,  and  various  remnants  of  past  splendor  in  the 
shape  of  torn  lace  and  soiled  ribbons. 

"  Meagher  watched  the  old  fellow  with  great  attention  and  curiosity. 
The  shell  of  a  lobster,  I  remember  particularly  attracted  his  notice.  •  Sure 
ly,'  said  he,  'he  wont  take  that.'  But  it  went  with  the  rest.  He  insistei 
that  we  should  follow  the  old  veteran  to  another  heap,  where  we  saw,  with 
some  variety  in  the  contents,  the  same  operation  repeated.  The  lobster  shell 
always  surprised  Meagher,  and  at  last  he  begged  me  to  ask  the  chiffonier 
what  he  would  do  with  it.  I  said  something,  but  got  no  answer.  He  said 
gruffly,  and  I  modify  the  expression,  '  Ces  zacres  Anglais  fourent  le  nez  dai<s 
tout.''  I  said,  'We  are  not  Anglais,  we  aie  Irlandais.''  '  Hollandaisf  asked 
the  old  fellow,  (he  never  heard  of  the  Irlandais).  '  Tous  iv  rognes^  (all 
drunkards,)  and  he  jogged  off  anything  but  sober  himself. 

"  Meagher  philosophized  for  an  hour  after  on  the  old  night  prowler,  and 
wondered  why  there  were  no  such  industrious  people  in  Ireland.  In  the 
street,  in  the  clubs,  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  —  everywhere  —  he  found 
subject  for  shrewd  remarks,  and  often  comic  and  witty  comments  on  the 
speakers  and  actors,  and  comparisons  with  people  at  home. 

u  On  one  subject  he  was  always  serious  —  on  everything  touching  that 
country  for  which  he  was  going  to  sacrifice  all  that  were  dear  to  him. 
His  manner  changed  suddenly  when  Ireland  was  mentioned,  and  I  remember 
on  alluding  to  the  famine  of  the  previous  year  that  his  voice  trembled  with 
emotion  and  passion.  '  You  were  happy,'  he  said  to  me,  '  not  to  have  wit 
nessed  those  h-.rrowing  sights;  they  would  have  maddened  you,  as  they 
have  maddened  us  all.' 

"When  I  took  leave  of  him  at  the  Northern  station  I  did  not  say  adieu, 
but  au  revoir,  and  in  Ireland;  I  little  thought  we  should  never  meet  again. 
From  his  prison  cell  he  wrote  me  two  letters,  one  of  which  I  consider  it 
my  duty  to  publish  to-day.*  It  will  throw  some  light  on  the  past  and  a 
further  halo  over  the  memory  of  one  who,  though  he  has  for  a  grave  but 
some  undefined  place  under  the  dark  current  of  the  Mississippi,  will  be  re 
membered  when  the  pompous  tombs  raised  over  some  of  the  enemies  of  his 
race  and  country  will  have  mouldered  into  dust." 


*The  letters   referred   to   were  dated,  respectively,  November  27th,  1S4>-,  and  July  9th, 
1849.    They  will  appear  further  on  In  this   Memoir. 


128  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE  DUBLIN  CLUB-MEN.  —  APRIL,   1848. 

Clubs  were  trumps  In  "Ninety-three"  — 

With  the  gaunt  Parisians; 
And  with  us,  too,  —  while  yet  we 

Had  our  dazzling  visions.  — 


WHILE  Meagher  and  his  associate  deputies  were  fraternizing  with  the 
revolutionary  clubs  of  Paris,  familiarizing  themselves  with  the  methods  by 
which  those  "radical-reformers"  attained  their  object;  and,  notwithstanding 
Lamartine's  discouraging  announcement,  becoming  assured  thar,  when  Ireland 
called  upon  her  ancient  ally  for  armed  assistance,  it  would  be  promptly 
afforded  har  ;  —  their  compatriots  in  Dublin  were  earnestly  preparing  for  the 
test  which  would  demonstrate  whether  or  not  they  were  worthy  claimants 
of  freemen's  sympathy  or  freemen's  blood.  Every  day  the  clubs  were 
extending  their  ramifications  over  the  city.  Every  day  the  members  were 
becoming  more  disciplined,  hopeful  and  resolute.  For,  in  view  of  the  start 
ling  events  which  succeeded  each  other  so  rapidly  in  those  days,  —  when  no 
man  could  foresee  what  the  next  hour  might  bring  forth,  —  those  true- 
hearted  fellows  entertained  a  firm  conviction  that  an  armed  revolution  was 
impending  in  Ireland,  and,  that,  'as  in  the  continental  countries,  the  initia 
tive  would  be  taken  in  the  capital.  But,  whether  by  the  deliberately-planned 
orders  of  their  trusted  leaders,  by  some  unforeseen  accident,  or  by  a  sud 
den  aggression  on  the  part  of  the  government  —  the  fight  was  to  be  preci 
pitated,  they  knew  not;  neither  did  they  seem  to  care  much.  They  felt 
that  they  were  to  act  as  the  "forlorn-hope"  in  a  desperate  struggle,  where 
many  of  them  were  sure  to  fall;  but  they  were  confident  of  eventual  suc 
cess.  True,  they  could  not  aspire  to  emulate  the  battle-nurtured  heroes  of 
Paris,  who,  from  childhood  were  accustomed  to  the  use  of  arms  and  the 
sound  of  the  "Tocsin;"  and  who,  moreover,  had  well-grounded  reliance  on 
the  sympathetic  patriotism  of  their  fellow-countrymen  in  the  army:  Yet, 
surely,  they  would  have  to  encounter  no  greater  difficulties  than  those  which 
were  met  and  surmounted  by  the  people  of  Milan  within  the  week  just 
passed;  men  who,  though  as  systematically  deprived  of  arms  by  their  for 
eign  rulers  as  ever  the  Irish  had  been,  nevertheless,  with  such  weapons 
as  were  at  hand,  maintained  a  five-days'  street-fight  in  a  fortified  city, 
against  an  Austrian  garrison  of  twenty  thousand  soldiers,  and  eventually 


THE    DUBLIN  CLUB-MEN.  12b 

chased   their    tyrant,  Radetzky,   and    the    remnant  of    his  shattered  battalion^ 
through  the  cannon  guarded  gates  of  their  redeemed  city. 

"Clarendon,"  they  reasoned,  "was  no  more  formidable  a  tyrant  than 
Radetzky  —  at  least  when  fighting  was  to  be  done,  —  and  that  Irishmen  were 
the  inferiors  of  Italians  in  strength  or  courage  could  not  be  admitted.  Why, 
then,  should  they  not  succeed  as  well  as  their  fellow-victims  of  foreign 
misrule  —  when  stimulated  by  the  same  passions  —  love  of  their  native  laud, 
and  detestation  of  her  oppressors?" 

Such  were  the  sentiments  that  actuated  the  club-men  of  the  metropolis 
in  these  exhilirating  times.  It  is  true,  that,  since  the  fearful  scenes  wit 
nessed  in  Dublin  after  the  suppression  of  the  last  attempt  at  armed  revolt, 
under  Robert  Emmet,  the  young  men  of  no  other  portion  of  Ireland  grew 
up  under  such  a  habitual  obedience  to  the  "  laio "  as  did  those  who,  born 
under  the  shadow  of  the  Castle,  and,  terrorized  over  since  childhood  by  its 
ubiquitous  and  brutalized  emissaries  —  policemen  and  detectives,  —  could  only 
give  vent  to  their  outraged  feelings  in  suppressed  maledictions,  seldom  resist 
ing  official  aggression  individually,  and  hardly  ever  making  a  combined  stand- 
up-fight  against  a  detachment  of  the  "  force "  —  such  as  was  a  habitual 
occurrence  in  nearly  every  other  portion  of  the  island. 

But  the  generation  grown  to  maturity  in  Dublin  since  the  days  of  Orange 
ascendency,  were  fast  emancipating  themselves  from  the  antiquated  notions 
entertained  for  the  semblance  of  constituted  authority  by  their  submissive 
progenitors.  For  "Jaw,"  in  the  abstract,  they  entertained  no  more  reverence 
than  their  compatriots  "west  of  the  Shannon."  and  it  is  highly  probable, 
that,  on  a  suitable  occasion,  they  would  show  their  "  faith  by  good  works " 
in  dealing  with  the  corporeal  impersonations  of  their  childhood's  "  bug-a  boo." 
However,  the  clubs  were  not,  by  any  means,  recruited  exclusively  from 
natives  of  Dublin.  A  considerable  number  of  their  members  hailed  from  the 
provinces.  This  was  especially  true  of  the  laborers  and  mechanics,  who 
came  to  the  metropolis  in  search  of  more  remunerative  employment  than 
could  be  attained  in  their  several  homes.  The  more  intelligent  of  these 
latter,  through  corresponding  with  their  former  associates  throughout  the 
country,  impressed  them  with  their  own  ardent  opinions  and  hopes,  and 
served  as  powerful  auxiliaries  to  the  national  press  in  disseminating,  through 
out  the  sphere  of  their  influence,  a  spirit  of  enthusiastic  self-reliance,  and 
many  practical  suggestions  for  local  preparation. 

In    some   measure,   also,  those    correspondents    confirmed    the    general  im 
pression    felt   all    over    the    island,   that    the    signal   for  the  national  uprising 
would   be  given  from  Dublin. 
9 


130  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

Though  the  working  classes  constituted  the  majority  of  the  club-men, 
yet  almost  every  rank  and  profession  had  its  representatives  among  them  — 
artists,  clerks,  shop-keepers,  merchants,  writers,  etc.  Among  the  most  effec 
tive  organizations  in  the  city  was  the  Student's  Club. 

This  club  was  founded  by  the  Medical  Students  of  Dublin,  but  its  ranks 
were  subsequently  recruited  from  students  of  the  other  learned  professions. 
Among  its  original  members  were  several  whose  names  were  afterwards  prom 
inently  distinguished  in  science,  art,  and  literature,  as  well  as  for  their 
fidelity  to  Ireland,  and  their  sufferings  and  sacrifices  endured  for  her  sake. 
Dr.  Thomas  Antisel,  who  was  president  of  the  club,  and  who  had  the  honor 
of  being  among  the  first  to  figure  in  "Her  Majesty's  Hue-aud-Cry" — after 
the  suspension  of  the  Habeus  Corpus  Act  in  July,  1848  — ranks  among  the 
most  eminent  men  in  his  profession  in  the  National  Capital,  of  which  city 
he  has,  for  more  than  forty  years,  been  the  most  honored  Irish-born  resi 
dent.  His  friend  and  fellow-patriot,  John  i  Savage,  secretary  of  the  club, 
while  yet  but  a  boy,  acted  a  man's  part  in  the  defiles  of  the  Cummeraghs 
as  the  most  esteemed  and  faithful  associate  of  John  O'Mahouy,  when  most 
of  his  Dublin  comrades  were  scattered,  or  in  prison;  and  when  driven  to 
self-expatriation,  won  a  literary  reputation  in  America  of  which  any  man 
might  be  proud. 

Richard  Dalton  Williams,  ("  Shamrock "  of  the  Nation,}  that  most  ver 
satile  of  Irish  poets,  and  next  to  "THE  CELT" — the  most  popular  singer 
of  his  time, —  whose  beautiful  tribute  to  the  "Sister  of  Charity"  charmed 
the  hearts  of  a  Castle-packed  jury,  and  saved  him  from  the  fate  of  his 
noble  comrade,  Kevin  Izod  O'Dogherty,  (who,  after  baffling  the  hounds  of  the 
"Law"  in  two  trials,  was  finally  hunted  down  and  sent  to  the  Antipodes  — 
to  win  fame  and  fortune,)  he,  also,  was  another  of  that  gifted  baud  who 
aspired  to  emulate  the  "heroic  students  of  the  Paris  Ecole  Poll/technique." 

The  objects  oi  the  new  organization  were  clearly  set  forth  in  the  fol 
lowing  spirit-stirring  appeal  to  their  compatriots : 

"ADDRESS  OF  THE  MEDICAL  STUDENTS  OF  DUBLIN  TO  ALL  IRISH  STUDENTS 
OF  SCIENCE  OR  ART,  ADOPTED  AT  A  MEETING  OF  THE  STUDENTS'  CLUB, 
HELD  AT  THE  NORTHUMBERLAND  BUILDINGS,  EDEN  QUAY,  TUESDAY, 
APRIL  4,  1848.  JOHN  SAVAGE  PRESIDING.* 

"FELLOW  STUDENTS:    A  war   is  waging,  at  this  hour,  all  over  Europe, 
•From  "  Ninety-eight  and  Forty  eight,"  page  393 


THE  DUBLIN  CLUB  MEN.  131 

between  Intelligence  and  Labor  on  the  one  side,  and  Despotism  and  Force 
on  the  other.  Citizen-soldiers  are,  in  every  state  of  Europe,  being  substi 
tuted  for  standing  armies,  constitutions  for  the  sovereign's  caprice,  or  repub 
lics  for  monarchy  itself.  You  have  read,  in  common  with  all  the  world, 
the  records  of  these  stirring  events.  You  have  glowed  over  the  annals  of 
the  gallantry  displayed  by  the  students  and  workmen  of  Paris  —  the  students 
and  people  of  Belgium  —  and  the  students  and  burghers  of  Vienna.  Has  it 
nevt  r  occurred  to  you  that  you  too,  live  in  a  country  sorely  in  need  of  a 
revolution?  —  and  that  you  might,  with  advantage  to  her  and  glory  to  your 
selves,  imitate  the  heroic  examples  of  the  French  Ecole  Potytechnique  and 
the  Austrian  Ecole  des  Beaux  Arts?  For  us,  the  medical  students  of  Dublin, 
all  of  us  of  your  own  class  and  age,  we  have  unanimously  come  to  that 
conclusion,  and  hereby  invite  you  to  unite  with  us  in  resolve,  and  frater 
nize  with  us  in  action. 

"  We  have  seen  the  famine  —  we  have  lived  in  the  presence  of  the  pes 
tilence.  "VVe  have  inquired  into  the  origin  of  both,  and  we  find  that  both 
have  resulted  from  the  gross  misgovernmeut  and  spoliation  of  the  victims, 
our  brother  Irishmen.  "We  find  that  this  country  has  been,  for  fifty  years 
under  the  sole  control  of  state  quacks,  sent  hither  from  London,  and  falla 
ciously  gazetted  as  wise  and  lawful  authorities ;  we  find  that,  as  the  number 
of  officials  has  increased,  so  has  the  national  mortality;  and  we  have  traced 
a  distinct  connection  of  effect  and  cause  in  these  two  circumstances.  We, 
therefore,  have  sworn  in  our  souls,  and  by  our  hopes  of  honor,  fame,  and 
peace,  that  these  poisonous  "foreign  bodies"  shall  be  excised  from  the  land. 
We  ask  you  to  concur  in  this  oath,  and  to  prepare  to  carry  it  into  effect; 
we  ask  you  to  enlist  with  us  in  the  ranks  of  the  people,  not  to  create  a 
riot,  but  to  achieve  a  revolution. 

"You  know  all  the  facts  of  the  case  as  well  as  we  do.  You  are  numer 
ous,  energetic,  and  supple  as  young  ash.  The  students  of  Paris  and  Vienna 
are  not  braver  of  heart,  or  stronger  of  hand.  You  are  all  accustomed  to 
the  use  of  arms,  and  most  of  you  are  armed.  There  stands  England,  with 
the  Castle  at  her  back  —  here  Ireland  before  the  entrance  of  her  ancient 
senate-house.  Join  with  us — join  with  us  at  once  —  and  may  God  defend 
the  right! 

•'We  are  brief,  for  time  is  precious,  and  we  deem  it  better  to  make 
gunpowder  than  orations.  Let  us  coalesce  in  an  "Irish  Student's  Club,"  grasp 
each  other's  hands,  know  each  other's  souls,  and,  while  the  stranger's  cav- 


132  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

airy  are    told    to    whet    their    sabres,    let    us    also    brace    our    spirits    for   the 
coming  day  of  Freedom  — the  flashing  flags  of  Freedom  — 

'The  victor  glaive, 

The  mottoes  brave  — 
May  we  be  there  to  read  them  I 

That  glorious  noon, 

God  send  It  soon. 
Ilurrah  for  Human  Freedom ! ' 

"  R.  D.  WILLIAMS,  Chairman  of  the  Committee." 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

< 

REVIVAL  OF  AN  OLD  IRISH  INDUSTRY. 

•( 
»  '*" 

"  The  very  subtlest  eloquence 

That  Injured  men  can  show. 
Is  the  pathos  of  a  pike-head, 

And  the  logic  of  a  frow. 
Hopes  built  upon  fine  talking 

Are  like  castles  built  on  sand; 
But  the  pleadings  of  cold  Iron 
Not  a  tyrant  can  withstand."— MAJIY. 

Two  days  after  the  departure  of  the  Irish  deputation  to  France,  an 
extraordinary  meeting  of  the  Confederation  was  held  in  the  Music  Hall, 
Dublin.  It  was  "extraordinary"'  in  more  than  one  respect.  It  was  the  first 
of  its  kind  to  which  the  clubs  marched  in  regular  order,  and  the  unusual  sight 
of  hundreds  of  resolute  men  tramping,  with  cadenced  step  through  the  streets 
of  the  capital,  at  nightfall,  created  considerable  excitement  among  the  groups 
of  citizens  congregated  at  various  points  along  the  approaches  to  the  place 
of  meeting,  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  which  the  shops  and  other  places 
of  business  had  been  closed  somewhat  earlier  than  usual. 

This  precautionary  step  was  taken  in  consequence  of  a  rumor, —  which 
had  been  extensively  circulated  during  that  afternoon,  to  the  effect  that  the 
meeting  would  be  interfered  with,  or  prevented  by  the  Castle  authorities. 
The  appearance  of  the  clubs  in  semi-military  order  led  to  the  belief  that, 
if  any  such  attempt  should  be  made  it  would  be  promptly  resisted,  and, 
perhaps,  the  train  fired  which  would  result  in  a  universal  upheaval  of  the 
revolutionary  element  known  to  be  ready  for  ignition. 


REVIVAL   OF  AN  OLD  IRISH  INDUSTRY.  133 

An  immense  concourse  of  people  had,  from  an  early  hour,  assembled  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  Music  Hall.  They  cheered  the  clubs  most  heartily 
as  they  came  up  in  succession  and  filed  into  the  edifice,  and  remained  on 
the  street  until  the  termination  of  the  meeting  —  awaiting  possible  contin 
gencies. 

Inside  the  hall  the  scene  was  most  imposing.  The  gallery  was  filled  with 
ladies.  A  few  moments  before  the  opening  of  the  proceedings,  Charles  Gavan 
Duffy  entered.  On  his  arm  leant  a  tall,  stately,  and  most  beautiful  lady, 
in  white  —  whose  exquisitely  chiselled  features,  dark  eyes  and  hair,  and  brow 
—  fair  and  lofty  as  that  of  the  Athenian  deity  typified  in  ivory  by  Phidias, 
would  have  commanded  admiration  in  a  less  discriminative  and  excitable 
assemblage  than  that  to  whom  she  then  constituted  for  a  moment  the  centre 
of  silent  attraction.  But  the  silence  was  only  momentary.  A  cry  of  ''SPE- 
RANZA  ! "  "  SPERANZA  !  ''  brougnt  forth  such  a  stortv  of  enthusiastic  cheers 
as  fairly  shook  the  house  from  floor  to  roof.  Again,  and  again  it  was 
repeated,  the  fair  recipient  gracefully  acknowledging  the  homage  paid  her 
genius  and  patriotism  by  her  warm-hearted  and  exulting  countrymen.  I 
shall  never  forget  that  soul-thrilling  scene.  It  won  my  lasting  admiration 
for  the  Dublin  boys.  I  have  often,  since,  thought  that,  had  the  hand  which, 
a  few  months  later,  penned  Ireland's  call  to  arms — '-JACTA  ALEA  EST,'** 
been  raised  on  that  night  with  the  same  intent,  how  promptly  the  signal 
would  be  responded  to. 

The  meeting  had  been  convened  for  the  special  purpose  of  indorsing  the 
principles  enunciated  in  the  prosecuted  speeches  of  O'Brien  and  Meagher. 
But  the  speakers  went  even  further,  and  repeated  the  original  offences  in  a 
more  aggravated  form.  For  instance,  Mr.  Duffy,  in  moving  the  adoption  of 
the  resolution  "  that  the  proscribed  speeches  be  printed  and  circulated  through 
Ireland,"  continued  as  follows : 

"We  cannot  undertake  to  drive  a  coach-and-six  through  their  prosecu 
tion.  But,  with  God's  help  and  yours,  we  will  drive  something  better  through 
it.  We  will  drive  through  it  the  will  of  the  Irish  people.  We  will  drive 


*" JACTA  ALEA  EST,"  ("The  Rubicon  Is  Passed,")  was  written  by  Lady  Wilde,  and 
printed  in  the  "Nation"  bearing  date  July  29th,  184S,  jutt  after  the  Ilabeus  Corpus  Act 
was  suspended.  The  Castle  authorities  no  sooner  read  it,  than  they  ordered  the  police 
to  break  into  the  "  Nation "  office,  seize  all  the  printed  copies  of  the  paper,  the  type 
forms,  &c.,  and  cart  them  off  to  the  Castle.  Thus  it  occurred,  that  the  article  was  nerer 
•een  by  those  it  was  intended  for.  It  subsequently  formed  pait  of  the  indictment  on 
which  Mr.  Duffy  was  tried  for  "  treason-felony." 


134  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

through  it  an  elected  Council  of  National  Safety.    We  will  drive  through  it 
the  green  banners  of  a  hundred  thousand  National  Guards.". 

This  was  hold  language,  when  the  speaker  was  well  aware  that  the 
"  Convention  Act "  of  1793,  (passed  by  the  so-called  independent  Irish  Par 
liament)  should  be  trampled  down  before  a  "  Council  of  National  Safety " 
could  be  elected  —  or,  if  elected,  should  dare  assemble;  and  that  the  laws 
prohibiting  the  use  of  military  phraseology,  should  be  treated  in  like  man 
ner,  before  a  single  squad  of  an  "  Irish  National  Guard "  could  be  put 
through  its  facings.  But,  all  the  same,  Charles  Gavan  Duffy  used  the  words 
deliberately,  and  was  prepared  to  face  all  the  consequences  attendant  on 
an  attempt  to  carry  out  their  purport  in  tangible  form.  He  might  have 
entertained  some  hope  that  the  government  would  shrink  from  facing  an 
armed  revolution,  and  be  driven  to  the  less  perilous  alternative  of  lestoring 
her  Legislative  Independence  to  Ireland;  but  he  did  not  trust  much  to  it, 
though  the  daily  accessions  to  the  national  cause  of  many  influential  men 
of  the  professional  and  literary  classes  gave  him  grounds  for  hoping  that, 
in  time,  the  authorities  would  have  to  yield  to  the  just  demands  of  an  (al 
most)  united  people.  There  were  two  classes,  however,  whose  adhesion  to 
the  national  cause  not  even  the  most  sanguine  of  constitutional  reformers 
could  entertain  a  hope  of. 

These  were  the  Landlords  and  the  Orangemen. 

For  over  two  centuries  the  landlords  constituted  the  "English  garrison." 
Through  them  Ireland  had  been  ruled  in  accordance  with  English  policy, 
and  against  the  interests  of  her  rightful  owners.  As  members  of  the  Irish 
Parliament,  they  enacted  and  enforced  the  atrocious  "  Penal  Laws,"  and 
since  they  sold  that  Parliament,  their  course  in  the  Imperial  Legislature 
had  ever  been  in  accordance  with  their  own  sordid  interests  and  those  of 
the  government  which  upheld  them.  At  home,  as  Justices  of  the  Peace, 
appointed  by  the  English  executive,  they  administered  the  oppressive  laws 
which  their  representatives  ^elped  to  enact.  They  constituted  the  Grand 
Juries,  and,  as  such,  regulated  local  taxation.  They  named  the  Sheriffs; 
they  were  ex-offlcio  members  of  the  Boards  of  Poor  Law  Guardians,  and  could, 
in  many  instances,  control  the  action  of  those  bodies.  Finally,  they  nominated 
the  candidates  for  the  constabulary,  —  many  of  whom  were  iheir  own  spu 
rious  offspring,  and  the  balance  sons  or  other  relatives  of  their  slavish 
dependents. 

No  other  garrison  in  the  world  was  so  well  paid  as  those  Irish  land 
lords.  In  return  for  their  manifold  services,  their  alien  employers  upheld 
them  in  the  perpetual  plunder  of  their  discontented  victims.  In  their  interest, 


REVIVAL   OF  AN  OLD  IRISH  INDUSTRY.  135 

as  well  as  in  that  of  their  own  monopolist  manufacturers,  they  enacted  laws 
and  formed  combinations  to  destroy  Irish  trade,  so  that  the  cultivation  of 
the  soil  should  be  the  only  resource  of  the  vast  majority  of  the  working 
people,  and  thus  the  landlord  be  enabled  to  extort  the  utmost  price  his 
tenants  could  pay  —  and  keep  body  and  soul  together. 

Surely  there  existed  no  reasonable  hope  that  those  leagued  plunderers, 
whose  interests,  —  and  very  existence  on  Irish  soil  —  were  so  mutually  enter- 
twined,  could  ever  be  dissevered,  save  by  cutting  both  up  at  the  roots. 

As  for  the  gratuitous  opposition  of  the  Orangemen  to  their  country's 
claim  to  freedom,  it  could  only  be  accounted  for  by  a  spirit  of  innate  ma 
levolence,  engendered  by  intolerence,  and  fostered  by  ignorance,  and  by  the 
poor  privilege  accorded  them  of  insulting  with  impunity  their  disarmed 
Catholic  neighbors. 

It  was  palpable,  therefore,  that  in  any  caculatious  of  national  success 
based  upon  a  union  of  all  Irishmen,  those  two  classes  of  irrecoucilables 
should  be  counted  out  —  and  assigned  to  their  accustomed  place  in  the  ranks 
of  the  foreign  enemy. 

John  Mitchel's  speech  at  this  meeting  was  even  more  pointed  and  sug 
gestive  than  Mr.  Duffy's.  Referring  to  his  share  of  the  indicted  articles, 
he  said : 

''For  myself,  depend  upon  it,  whatever  I  have  published,  written,  or 
spoken,  I  will  stand  by :  the  government  shall  have  no  trouble  in  procuring 
evidence.  I  tell  them  I  did  publish  those  prosecuted  articles,  and  that  they 
are  '  seditious  libels.'  And  sedition,  let  me  tell  you,  is  a  small  matter  — 
I  mean  to  commit  '  high  treason,'  and  to  ask  you  all  to  commit  it  too.  I 
tell  you  to  be  prepared  to  rise.  There  is  no  need  to  name  the  day  now  — 
but  on  an  early  day,  or  night  —  and  to  smash  through  that  Castle,  and 
tear  down  the  union  flag  that  insults  our  city." 

In  another  portion  of  the  same  speech  he  dwelt  on  the  urgent  necessity 
of  the  people  arming: 

"  I  conjure  you  severally,  in  the  name  of  God  that  you  get  guns.  A 
good,  serviceable  rifle,  I  understand,  can  be  purchased  for  three  pounds ; 
and  those  of  you  who  may  not  be  able  to  afford  that,  ought  to  provide 
yourselves,  every  man,  with  a  sound  ash  pole,  seven  or  eight  feet  long. 
I  suppose  you  know  what  use  that  may  be  turned  to.  At  all  events,  what 
I  wish  to  convey  to  you  is  merely  this  —  that  speeches,  and  resolutions,  and 
reports  of  your  Council,  will  not  avail  you  in  *he  least,  unless  you  all 
have  arms  and  are  prepared  to  turn  out." 


136  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 


AX  EFFECTIVE   OBJECT  LESSON. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  meeting,  an  enterprising  hardware  manufacturer 
presented  Mr.  Mitchel  with  a  specimen  of  his  handicraft,  which  the  recipi 
ent,  forthwith,  held  up  for  the  inspection  of  the  audience.  Prepared  as  the 
startled  assemblage  had  been  by  the  plain-spoken  orator's  previous  reference 
to  the  "  poor  man's  weapon,"  the  exhibition  of  a  veritible  "  Irish  Pike,"  as 
a  palpable  illustration  of  his  treasonable  exhortation,  was  something  they 
did  not  expect  to  witness  quite  so  soon.  Yet,  there  it  was,  and  no  mistake 
—  a  shining,  two-edged  blade  of  polished  steel,  twelve  inches  long,  with  a 
strong,  sharp  hook,  attached  to  a  flanged  socket  ready  to  be  securely  fas 
tened  to  the  handle  with  screws.  The  audacity  of  the  act  —  the  reminis 
cences  it  evoked  —  and  the  lesson  of  practical  patriotism  it  taught,  had  an 
electric  effect  0:1  the  half-entranced  crowd  of  "  Hereditary  Rebels."  And 
such  a  shout  of  exultation  and  defiance  as  greeted  the  "  Symbol  of  '98," 
rang  out  as  sent  the  hot  blood  leaping  through  the  veins  of  every  individ 
ual,  man  and  woman  in  the  hall.  It  was  re-echoed  by  the  eager  and  excit 
able  crowd  on  the  street,  outside,  although  its  purport  was  not  then 
altogether  comprehended  —  save,  that  it  had  the  genuine  ring  of  battle, 
which,  whenever  heard,  intuitively  finds  a  sympathetic  response  in  the 
Celtic  heart  within  the  sphere  of  its  action. 

When  the  excitement  had  subsided  sufficiently  to  enable  him  to  be  heard, 
Mitchel,  in  that  cool  and  earnest  tone  which  carried  conviction  to  his  sym 
pathetic  hearers,  calmly  observed : 

"I  do  not  see  why  the  exhibition  of  a  single  pike  should  cause  such 
a  commotion  here  to-night.  Why,  before  a  week  is  over  you  will  see  them 
exposed  for  sale  in  smiths'  windows  as  freely  as  horse-shoes.  In  fact,  I 
would  like  to  see  pikes  exposed  for  sale  upan  stalls,  in  the  streets,  like 
books,  or  under  the  porticos  of  the  Bank  of  Ireland,  where  umbrellas  are 
sold  in  rainy  weather." 

The  audience  cheered  most  enthusiastically;  but,  to  many  present,  the 
statement  that  "  before  the  week  was  out,  pikes  would  be  publicly  exposed 
for  sale  in  Dublin"  — though  an  event  most  ardently  desired  —  seemed  "too 
good  to  be  true."  Nevertheless,  within  the  time  specified,  Mitchel's  hopeful 
prophecy  was,  literally,  fufllled,  for  a  brisk  trade  in  the  novel  article  had 
suddenly  sprung  up ;  after  the  lapse  of  half  a  century  the  good  old  fashion 
of  their  grandfathers  was  revived  by  the  rising  generation ;  smiths  and  cut 
lers  had  their  hands  full;  and  such  a  demand  for  seven-foot  ash  poles  was 
never  before  known  to  the  proprietors  of  the  timber-yards  located  on  the 


REVIVAL    OF  AN  OLD  IRISH  INDUSTRY.  137 

streets  leading  from  Thomas  and  James  streets  to  the  Liffy.  It  was  a  com 
mon  occurrence  to  meet  groups  of  three  or  more  marching  nonchalantly 
through  the  busiest  thoroughfares  of  the  city  with  those  suggestive  articles 
on  their  shoulders.  They  could  not  surely  be  all  intended  for  "peal-handles" 
—  for  if  so  the  Dublin  bakers  must  be  anticipating  a  rise  in  the  market, 
and  laying  in  a  stock  sufficient  -  to  last  for  a  life-time. — Yet  such  was  the 
use  to  which  an  honest  sweep  told  an  inquisitive  detective  he  was  about 
putting 

"  His  darlin'  klppeen  of  a  stick." 

The  authorities,  however,  were  not  so  obtuse  altogether  as  our  sooty 
joker  would  fain  have  them.  The  contemporaneous  activity  in  the  wood  and 
iron  trades,  was  proof,  "strong  as  a  Peeler's  oath,''  to  those  who  could  "put 
this  and  that  together,''  and  they  lost  no  time  in  investigating  the  progress 
and  extent  of  the  newly-revived  industry.  One  of  their  emissaries  was  sent 
to  David  Hyland  —  the  courageous  artizan  who  was  first  to  appreciate  the 
popular  need — and  instructed  to  negotiate  for  six  specimens  of  his  handi 
craft.  A  few  days  subsequently  he  called  for  and  obtained  a  portion  of 
his  order;  but  the  smith's  wife  didn't  like  his  looks,  and,  at  her  suggestion, 
he  was  followed  and  traced  into  the  executive  quarters  of  Dublin  Castle. 
Hyland,  thereupon,  took  measures  to  have  his  plot  exposed,  by  causing  his 
arrest  when  he  called  for  the  balance  of  the  pikes  ordered.  But  on  the 
spy's  trial  at  the  Police  Office,  Colonel  Browne,  Police  Commissioner,  (icho 
occupied  a  place  on  the  bench,~)  publicly  avowed  that  Kirwan,  the  spy  in 
question,  was  acting  under  his  instructions  in  the  transaction,  took  all  the 
odium  thereof  on  himself,  and  demanded  that  the  case  be  dismissed  —  as  "'the 
man  Hyland  had  committed  no  crime  in  making  pikes;  neither  had  the 
other  man  committed  any  crime  in  purchasing  them."  It  is  hardly  neces 
sary  to  say  that  his  suggestion  was  adopted. 

In  the  course  of  his  observations,  Colonel  Browne  bore  official  testimony 
to  the  extent  with  which  pike  manufacture  was  carried  on  in  the  metropo 
lis.  With  confiding  frankness  he  tells  •'  the  gentlemen  of  the  press  that,  he 
had  undoubted  information  that  pikes  were  being  manufactured  in  various 
parts  of  Dublin,  by  hundreds  and  thousands,"  and,  he  insinuatingly  adds,  — 
"You  know  yourselves  that  pikes  are  made  in  every  hole  and  corner." 

A  few  days  after  this  exposure  of  "Castle  patronage  of  Irish  manufac 
ture,"  the  enterprising  reviver  of  the  new  industry,  determined  on  "  making 
his  hay  while  the  sun  shone,"  had  a  neat  little  s^vinging-sign  hung  over 
his  door,  in  Charles  street.  Thereon,  in  silver  gilt,  was  a  full-size  represeu- 


138 


MEMOIES  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FMANCIS  MEAGHER, 


tation  of   an    Irish   pike,   with   the  accompanying  legend  in  gold  letters — on 
a  green  field: 


DAVID  HYLAND, 
PIKE-MAKER 

TO  THE  CASTLE. 


In  the  •window  beneath  was  exhibited  several  specimens  of  the  te  Queen 
of  Weapons ;"(?)  and  judging  from  the  crowds  passing  in  and  out  of  the 
shop,  the  establishment  seemed  to  be  doing  a  "  rushing  business."  Nor  was 
it  patronized  exclusivery  by  well-intentioned  u  Rebels,"  and  Castle  spies. 
The  proudest  Norman  aristocracy  in  the  laud  was  represented  among  its 
customers  —  in  the  person  of  the  young  Marquis  of  Ormonde,  —  the  hopeful 
heir  of  the  "  House  of  Butler."  This  nobleman,  mounted  on  a  superb  Irish 
hunter,  created  a  veritable  sensation,  by  riding  through  the  principal  streets 
of  the  city,  armed  with  a  pike  of  Hyland's  manufacture,  made  to  order, 
after  the  most  elaborate  antique  pattern 

Now,  had  it  been  a  scion  of  the  rival  "  House  of  Kildare,"  who  ven 
tured  to  "cut  such  a  shine"  —  then  and  there  —  people  might  attach  some 
significance  to  the  act,  and  remark  that  — "  Bl&od  will  tell!"  But,  as  the 
calculating  Butlers  were  ever  known  to  side  with  the  occupants  of  Dublin 
Castle  for  the  time  being,  this  whim  of  the  "Lord  of  Kilkenny"  was, 
rightly,  looked  upon  as  a  harmless  piece  of  burlesque,  on  a  par  with  the  esca 
pades  of  his  cotemporary  —  the  "  scapegrace  Marquis  of  Waterford." 

Towards  the  close  of  the  week  on  which  the  above-recorded  meeting 
took  place,  I  accompanied  Thomas  Deviu  Eeilly  to  the  office  of  the  "  United 
Irishman,"  for  the  purpose  of  being  introduced  to  John  Mitcbel.  On  that 
occasion  Mr.  Mitchel  presented  me  with  the  pike  which  created  :S.uch  .a  sen 
sation  a  few  nights  before.  He  advised  me  to  "cut  off  the  kook-"^.^  it 
was  "useless  weight."  But  I  told  him  "I'd  jrathgj  not=-*j  i£s  his_tp.r;fiaj 
LSUjytQ3.tiYe.ness  .co.unter-b.alajLce.d  .the  weight." 


THEEE  VETERANS   OF  'NINETY-EIGHT.  139 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

• 

THREE  VETERANS    OF  'NINETY-EIGHT. 

Then  here's  their  memory  —  may  it  be 

For  us  a  guiding  light, — 
To  cheer   our  strife  for  liberty, 

And  teach  us  to  UNITE. — INGRAM. 

IN  1848,  there  were  still  living  in  Dublin  some  representatives  of  the 
heroic  band  who,  fifty  years  before,  had  marched  under  the  "Harp  without 
a  Crown,"  and  who,  true  to  their  principles,  were  still  among  the  most 
active  of  their  associates  in  making  preparations  to  renew  the  old  fight  for 
Ireland  and  liberty. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  make  the  acquaintance  and  secure  the  friend 
ship  of  three  of  these  old  "  United-  Men."  Two  of  the  veterans, — MR. 
PATRICK  GAYNOR,  and  MR.  JOHN  SMITH,  were  members  of  the  Swift  Club, 
and  though  both  of  them  had  passed  their  seventy-fifth  year  at  the  time, 
their  ardtr  in  enlisting  recruits,  and  instilling  their  own  hopeful  spirit  into 
their  hearts,  won  them  the  admiration  and  esteem  of  their  fellow-patriots. 
They  were  personally  known  to  the  great  majority  of  Dublin  Confederates, 
for  they  had  been  residents  of  the  city  for  a  great  many  years,  though 
neither  was  born  therein. 

Mr.  Gaynor  was  a  Kildare  man,  who  was  among  the  first  to  respond 
to  the  preconcerted  signal  for  a  general  rising,  on  the  memorable  23rd  of 
May,  1798.  On  the  day  following  ha  marched  in  the  van  of  Dr.  John 
Esmond's  insurgent  column  of  pikemen,  when  they  stormed  and  sacked 
Prosperous. 

As  a  memento  of  that,  to  him,  eventful  day,  Patrick  Gaynor  received  a 
musket-ball  in  the  groin  —  (which  he  carried  to  his  grave) .  He  was  borne 
from  the  burning  town  by  his  comrades  in  arms,  and  conveyed  to  a  place 
of  safety,  where  his  wound  was  attended  to  until  healed  —  outwardly  at 
least.  But  he  was  lamed  for  life.  Still  he  was  more  fortunate  than  his 
gallant  leader;  for  Dr.  Esmonde  fell  into  the  enemy's  hands  at  Rathcoole, 
and  was  sent  to  Dublin  —  where  he  was  speedily  hanged  on  Carlisle  Bridge, 

—  not  many  yards  from  where  stands  the  statue  of  that  other  noble  "REBEI*" 

—  WILLIAM   SMITH   O'BRIEN, — an   incentive   to  future  generations  of  patriots, 


140  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANCI8  MEAGHEE. 

and  a  warning  to  the  tyrants  who  imagine  they  can  drown  a  liberty-loving 
people's  aspirations  in  the  blood  of  their  best  and  bravest:  — 

My  masters!    Oh,  my  masters  1 

There's  not  our  lele  within  — 
A  single  growing  plant  that  thrives 

Like  " DISAFFECTION'*  SIN." 

Mr.  Gaynor  was  the  most  implacable  enemy  of  England  I  ever  met. 
His  hatred  of  the  country  and  all  appertaining  thereto  was  intense  and 
unceasing.  It  seemed  to  be  incorporated  in  his  nature,  and  assuredly  it  was 
the  most  cherished  article  in  his  political  creed,  as  it  was  the  most  emphat- 
ical  sign  of  his  love  of  Ireland  which  he  could  manifest.  I  was,  at  first, 
inclined  to  think  this  passionate  vindictiveness  a  sign  of  mental  abberration 
caused  by  morbidly  brooding  over  the  horrible  scenes  he  had  witnessed  in 
his  early  manhood,  and  felt  more  inclined  to  pity  the  old  man  than  to 
sympatize  with  his  ebulitions  of  temper;  but  on  reflecting  that  every  pain 
ful  step  the  old  hero  took  for  the  preceding  half-century  served  to  remind 
him  of  the  black  debt  of  hatred  he  owed  the  hereditary  murderers  of  his 
race,  my  respect  for  his  consistent  principles  was  as  sincere  as  was  my 
commisseration  for  his  physical  sufferings,  and  my  admiration  for  the  stern 
old  patriot  grew  warmer  with  each  succeeding  interview  I  had  with  him  — 
and  they  were  frequent  and  many  during  the  four  months  of  my  stay  in 
Dublin. 

How  long  Mr.  Gaynor  survived  the  disappointment  of  our  enthusiastic 
hopes  of  '48,  I  do  not  know,  as,  in  reply  to  my  enquiry  about  him  when 
in  Dublin  thirteen  years  later,  I  only  learned  that  he  had  died  long  before, 
steadfast  in  his  principles  to  the  end  — a  typical  'Xinety-eight  man.  He 
sleeps  in  the  land  of  his  birth  and  love. 

GOD  REST  HIS  SOUL! 

Mr,  Gaynor's  compatriot  and  most  devoted  friend,  John  Smith,  wai  a 
man  <of  a  very  different  temperament  from  that  of  his  fellow  "  United-Mas  ; " 
for4  though  equally  steadfast  in  the  revolutionary  creed  as  his  old  comrade, 
and  ;as  zealous  in  propagating  itis  doctrines  among  the  men  of  a  new  gen-. 
eration.,  he  was  never  vindictive  in  language  when  alluding,  to  his  country's 
enemies.  It  was  impossible  tot  one  of  hi*  genial  disposition  to  harbor  a 
\veugelul  .thought  against  an  individual  opponent,  With  the  experience  of 
age  'he  jpossessed  the  confiding  ffautaiess  and  modest  diftideiids  of  an  iugeu= 
uous  iboy:;  and  by  those  .qualities  he  won  the  affection  of  these  who  esteemed 
him  for  his  sei  vices  and  devotion  to  his  country's'  cause.  Mr.  Smith  was  a 
nStive  of  the  county  of  Cavau,  but  iutd  long  been  a  resident  of  Dublin, 


TRKEE  VETERANS   O*   ' NTVETY EIGHT.  141 

'he  still,  notwithstanding  his  great  age,  worked  at  his  trade  —  that  of 
a  sMUle'i?.  His  children,  a  son  and  daughter,  both  grown  to  maturity,  were, 
'in  '6very  <respec't,  worthy  of  such  a  parent ;  and  their  pride  in  him  as  a 
paftfitft  was  as  intense  as  was  their  love  —  as  his  children.  Their  home  was 
a  <6he$rful  'and  'happy  one,  and  was  enlivened  by  many  a  pleasant  passage- 
at^Bvnrs  Ibetween  the  -lively  and  heroic-souled  "  Sally  Smith "  and  her  father's 
.grim  old  -comrade  —  whose  'enthusiasm  she  would  affect  to  dampen  by  hinting 
a  fftttlib't  <of  Ihis  Iphysical  ^fitness  for  undergoing  the  fatigues  of  campaigning 
at  his  age. 

""Now-,  Mr.  Gaynor,"  she  would  remark  in  a  serio-comic  tone,  "  what  in 
the  name  of  common  sense,  could  two  such  old  men  as  you  and  my  father 
£0  -when  it  comes  to  righting?  The  idea  of  men  of  your  years,  imagining 
they  are  capable  of  undergoing  the  hardships  incident  to  a  soldier's  life,  is 
bimply  preposterous?'1 

Qiiick  as   n   shot   would  come  the  veteran's  fiery  repon«e:  — 

"Why!  'confound  your  impudence,  you  young  jade!  couldn't  we  do  'grar/i- 
son  duty  ? '  —  There's  a  sockdoleger  for  you !  " 

And  the  general  laugh  which  followed  this  unanswerable  proposition 
served  the  double  purpose  of  silencing  the  audacious  interlocutor,  and  smooth 
ing  the  irritated  sensibilities  of  the  triumphant  old  hero. 

Richard  Smith  was  his  venerable  parent's  constant  attendant  to,  and 
from,  ithe  Club  meetings  and  other  political  demonstrations.  His  conspicuous 
patriotism  early  attracted  the  marked  attention  of  the  government  emissa 
ries;  ;  and.  and  when  their  day  of  reckoning  came,  and  those  rascals' 'em 
ployers  could  select  their  objects  of  vengeance  from  the  long  list  of  "  sus- 
.pects"  —  the  Smith  family  found  Dublin  an  unsafe  place  of  residence,  and 
so,  their  pleasant  home  in  Jeivis  street  was  abandoned,  and,  like  thousands 
of  their  race,  they  sought  a  new  home  in  the  "  Land  of  the  Free." 

;But  they  did  not  abandon  the  "  old  cause "  when  they  looked  their  last 
on  their  beloved  Inisfail.  Both  father  .and  son  were  among  the  earliest  en 
rolled  i  members  of  the  Fenian  Brotherhood  in  New  York,  and  the  old  mau 
cherished  a  warm  attachment  for  John  O'Hahouy,  at  whose  head-quarters  he 
was  a  frequent  and  most  welcome  visitor.  Here  the  old  Uuited-Irismau  met 
with  a  venerable  compatriot  in  the  person  of  Mr.  Michael  Biriiey,  a  Wexford 
man  \who,  thenceforth,  in  a  measure,  occupied  ihis  old  comrade,  Gayuor's,, 
place  in  his  affections  as  a  connecting  link  with  the  "  brave  days  of  old." 

How  i  these  two  old  heroes  were  esteemed  by  the  associates  in  the  Fe 
nian  Brotherhood,  was  shown  at  the  great  funeral  jpro,ces?ion  that  conveyed, 
the  remains  of  Terence  Bellew  McMauus  .through  .Xeyv  York,  ,on  the  18fih 
Of  October,  1861. 


142  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGUEB. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  immense  demonstration  an  open  barouche,  in 
which  were  seated  two  white-haired  old  men,  attracted  the  marked  and 
respectful  attention  of  the  masses  that  lined  the  streets;  for  it  was  known 
through  the  press,  that,  in  the  funeral  cortege  were  to  appear  two  veterans 
who,  sixty-three  years  before,  had  shouldered  their  pikes  in  the  same  im 
mortal  cause,  which  McManus,  a  half  century  later  had  so  nobly  upheld. 

The  veterans  were  "John  Smith  of  Cavan,"  and  "Michael  Birney  of 
Wexford,"  then  aged  respectively,  89  and  81  years. 

Both  those  old  patriots  passed  the  age  of  90  before  they  were  laid  to 
rest,  by  loving  hands,  in  Calvery  Cemetery  —  that  great  Necropolis  of  the 
exiled  "Children  of  the  Gael." 

INTERESTING  PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  'NINETY- 
EIGHT. 

THOMAS  O'FLANAGAN,  the  third  of  those  '98  veterans  whose  acquaintance 
I  made  in  Dublin,  was  a  man  of  much  superior  ability  and  general  infor 
mation  to  either  of  his  venerable  compatriots,  and,  in  some  respects,  he 
was,  perhaps,  the  most  remarkable  man  of  his  time — notably  in  the  fact 
that,  for  seventy-six  consecutive  years  he  worked  unremittingly  at  his  trade  of 
printer,  —  earning  his  bread  by  his  own  manual  labor  from  the  1st  of  May, 
1790,  to  the  23d  of  August,  1866,  —  a  record  unparalelled  in  the  history  of 
printing. 

In  Thomas  O'Flanagan's  obituary,  written  by  Dr.  R.  R.  Madden,  author 
of  the  "  Lives  and  Times  of  the  United  Irishmen,"  and  who  was  one  of  the 
old  patriot's  most  intimate  friends  for  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life, 
occurs  the  following  tribute  to  his  character :  — 

"A  man  singularly  deserving  of  respect  and  honor  —  of  high  intelligence, 
sterling  worth,  sirict  integrity  and  sound  judgment  —  of  self-reliant  indepen 
dent  principles,  yet  of  mild  and  gentle  demeanor,  naturally  civilized,  and 
disposed  in  all  emergencies  to  think  justly  and  to  act  rightly." 

Thomas  O'Flanagan  as  a  United-Irishman,  enjoyed  the  high  honor  of 
being  personally  known  to,  and  implicitely  trusted  by,  Lord  Edward  Fitz 
gerald,  Arthur  O'Connor,  and  other  distinguished  members  of  that  patriotic 
society.  Such  confidence  had  they  in  his  courage  and  devotion,  that  he  was 
selected  by  them  as  one  of  Lord  Edward's  armed  body-guards,  while  the 
noble  Geraldine  was  secreted  in  the  metropolis  in  the  winter  of  '97 — '98. 

From  the  lengthy  sketch  of  his  career  by  Dr.  Madden,  supplemented  by 
information  derived  from  other  authentic  sources,  I  am  enabled  to  supply 


PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS   OF  '98.  143 

the  following  details  of  his  history  up  to  the  time  when  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  making  his  personal  acquaintance. 

He  came  of  a  brave  old  Celtic  stock,  being  a  scion  of  the  sept  of 
O'Flanagan  of  Moy-town,  county  Fermanagh. 

He  was  born  in  the  vicinity  of  Enniskillen  in  the  "  year  of  the  Declar 
ation  of  American  Independence,"  and,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  he  commenced 
his  career  as  a  printer  by  entering  the  office  of  the  Freeman's  Journal, 
Dublin,  as  an  apprentice.  Francis  Higgens  was  then  proprietor. 

After  his  apprenticeship  had  expired,  Mr.  O'Flanagan  continued  to  work 
as  a  journeyman  compositor  on  the  Freeman  until  September,  1797,  when 
the  leaders  of  the  United  cause  established  a  newspaper  entitled  the  Press,  to 
forward  the  movement  for  the  liberation  of  Ireland.  O'Flanagan  worked  as 
compositor  on  the  new  national  organ  from  its  first  issue  until  its  suppres 
sion  by  military  force  on  March  6th,  1798,  when  the  sixty-eighth  number 
was  seized  on  the  morning  of  its  intended  publication. 

He  gives  the  following  reminiscences  of  the  brief  and  troubled  career 
of  the  Press: 

"  The  first  seventeen  numbers  of  the  paper  were  printed  by  Mr.  Whit- 
worth,  an  Englishman,  in  Upper  Exchange  street,  Dublin.  The  subsequently 
celebrated  Peter  Finnerty,  who  was  to  have  been  a  compositor  on  it,  was 
introduced  to  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald  and  Arthur  O'Connor,  who  found 
him  to  be  a  man  of  great  talent,  tact,  and  patriotism.  They  at  once  de 
cided  that  he  should  be  employed  at  the  publishing  office  in  Church  Lane, 
College  Green,  where  he  had  to  conduct  some  very  important  correspondence 
for  the  United  Irishmen.  His  name  appeared  at  the  bottom  of  the  paper 
as  the  printer  to  the  Press,  and  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald  on  several  occa 
sions  expressed  his  entire  approval  of  Peter  Finnerty's  conduct. 

"  The  first  editor  was  a  Mr.  Brennan,  a  very  able  writer,  but  a  man  of 
questionable  integrity,  as  subsequent  events  proved.  Brennan  having  been 
committed  to  jail  for  debt,  he  wrote  to  the  proprietors  to  the  effect  that 
if  they  did  not  pay  his  debts  immediately,  he  would  place  all  the  manu 
scripts  which  he  had  in  his  possession  in  the  hands  of  the  Castle  authori 
ties.*  Brennan's  threat  was  treated  with  contempt,  and  Arthur  O'Connor 
wrote  to  him  in  these  words :  — 

" '  If   you   wish   to    act    a    base,    dishonorable   part    towards   u&  and    the 


*What  a  close  parallel  Is  exhibited  between  this  wretchte  oonduct  In  the  above 
Instance,  and  that  of  "  Plgott  the  suicide"  In  his  attempt  to  blackmail  the  Irish  nation 
alists  In  more  recent  times? — [Eo. 


144  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

righteous  cause  you  have  engaged  to  sustain,  we  must  regret  it;  we  must 
likewise  regret  having  been  associated  with  a  man  capable  of  such  baseutss. 
Do  your  utmost.  Posterity  shall  decide  upon  the  rectitude  of  the  cause  you 
have  expressed  your  intention  of  betraying.' 

"  In  a  few  days  after,  Brennan  was  liberated  from  prison  by  the  gov 
ernment,  who,  no  doubt,  perceived  that  he  was  worth  purchasing;  but  I  am  not 
aware  of  his  having  appeared  before  the  public  again  in  connection  with 
politics. 

"  The  aspect  of  Irish  affairs  looking  very  perilous,  and  prosecution  fol 
lowing  prosecution,  Mr.  Whitworth  declined  printing  the  Press  any  longer. 
Mr.  Stockdale,  of  Abbey  street,  brought  out  the  eighteenth  number,  and 
continued  to  print  it  as  long  as  it  was  permitted  by  the  government. 

"When  Finnerty  was  found  guilty  of  a  libel  another  name  was  obliged 
to  be  entered  at  the  stamp  office.  Arthur  O'Connor's  name  was  then  attached 
to  it.  Although  there  were  upwards  of  3,000  copies  struck  off  each  publi 
cation,  (Monday,  Thursday,  and  Saturday  evenings,)  the  day  that  Arthur 
O'Connor's  name  was  announced  as  printer,  it  got  a  rise  of  1,500,  and  in 
creased  to  6,000.  which  was  the  utmost  that  could  be  printed  in  time  by 
the  presses  in  use  at  that  period.  The  name  of  Arthur  O'Connor  was  every 
where  received  with  enthusiasm  by  the  people,  particularly  in  the  counties 
of  Kildare  and  Meath.  In  truth,  almost  all  Protestants  who  espoused  the 
United  cause,  were  generous,  disiLterested,  noble-minded  men,  who  truly 
loved  fatherland. 

"  What  a  contrast  with  the   '  Soupers '   of  these  days ! 

"At  the  time  Finnerty  was  sentenced  to  be  pilloried  at  the  front  of 
Newgate,  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald  and  Arthur  O'Connor  went  to  Green 
street  to  encourage  him  while  in  the  pillory.  There  were  several  thousand 
present,  and  the  people  seemed  much  excited.  When  they  reached  the  guard 
of  soldiers  Lord  Edward  endeavored  to  pass  one  of  them.  The  soldier  raised 
his  gun,  and  was  about  to  strike  him,  when  the  high  sheriff,  (Mr.  Pember- 
ton,)  immediately  advanced  and  ordered  him  not  to  act  without  orders.  He 
then  gave  directions  to  the  officer  in  command  of  the  guard  to  allow  Lord 
Edward  Fitzgerald  and  Mr.  O'Connor  to  pass.  They  both  continued  near 
Finnerty  during  the  time  he  was  suffering  the  penalty.  The  high  sheriff 
seemed  puzzled  h6w  to  act;  but  owing  to  his  mild  and  conciliatory  conduct 
to  the  people,  all  passed  off  quietly. 

"Immediately  after  leaving  Green  street  Lord  Edward  and  O'Connor 
went  to  Stockdale's  office.  Having  entered  into  conversation  about  what 
had  taken  place  with  the  soldier,  his  lordship  took  two  small  pistols  from 


PERSONAL  RECOLLECTION'S   OF  >98.  145 

his  waistcoat  pockets,  and  said  that  if  the  soldier  had  struck  him  he  would 
have  shot  him  dead.  If  that  had  taken  place,  I  am  con  fide  it  the  entire 
guard  would  have  been  disarmed  in  a  few  minutes,  for  the  crowd  was  so 
close  to  them  at  that  moment,  that  they  would  not  be  able  to  use  their 
muskets.  Lord  Edward  was  the  most  determined  man  I  ever  saw. 

"  So  hostile  were  the  low  Orangemen  to  the  Press  newspaper  that  the 
messengers  who  carried  the  papers  from  the  printer  to  the  publishing  office  in 
€hurch  Lane,  were  on  several  occasions,  waylaid,  in  consequence  of  which 
the  printers  formed  themselves  into  a  guard  to  protect  the  newspapers  the 
men  were  conveying.  One  night  a  printer  named  Hardy,*  (a  brave-hearted 
young  man,)  and  myself  went  for  that  purpose.  Hardy  was  armed  with  a 
large  pistol,  and  I  had  a  piece  of  metal  from  the  printing  office,  about  two 
feet  long  and  an  inch  thick.  We  left  the  messengers  safe  in  Church  Lane, 
and  subsequently  went  through  College  Green,  Trinity  street  and  St.  An 
drew  street.  As  we  passed  into  William  street,  Hardy,  by  the  light  of  the 
old  oil  lamps,  observed  Major  Sirr  advancing  at  a  distance,  and  immediately 
determined  on  shooting  him  as  he  came  up,  by  discharging  his  pistol  in  the 
Major's  face,  as  he  was  supposed  to  have  worn  armour  about  his  body. 
Having  an  extreme  objection  to  assassination  I  strongly  urged  my  friend 
Hardy  to  abandon  all  idea  of  committing  a  crime  so  revolting  to  every 
Christian  sentiment.  He  yielded  to  my  entreaties;  and  in  another  moment 
Major  Sirr  passed  us,  little  knowing  what  a  narrow  escape  he  had  for  his 
life.  The  Major  surveyed  us  from  head  to  foot,  and  my  anxiety  was  intense, 
for  I  still  feared  some  act  of  desperation  on  the  part  of  my  friend  Hardy, 
on  meeting  a  man  so  universally  detested. 

"About  this  time,  Mr.  Astley,  who  kept  the  Amphitheatre  in  Peter 
street,  (now  Molyneaux  Asylum,)  made  himself  extremely  obnoxious  to  the 
citizens  of  Dublin.  He  ordered  his  musicians  to  strike  up  "  Croppies  lie  doton," 
and  other  insulting  airs,  twice  every  night,  for  the  amusement  of  the  low 
Orangemen  who  frequented  his  house;  but  my  friend  Hardy,  who  was  so 
anxious  to  dispatch  the  Major,  repaired,  with  about  thirty  Liberty  boys,  to 
Astley's,  and  having  taken  their  position  near  the  musicians,  all  was  quiet 
until  the  orchestra  commenced  playing  u  Croppies  lie  down,"  when  Hardy 
started  up  and  exclaimed :  — 

"'Come,   boys,   now  is  the  time.      Forward!' 

"In  a  few  minutes  all  was  confusion.     The  upper  gallery  men  descended 


*  Hardy  was  a  Dublin  man;  he  was  about  twenty  five  years  of  age.  His  father  lived 
In  Greek  street.  He  was  a  United-Irishman.  He  became  a  sailor,  and  died  on  the  coast 
of  Afilca. 


146  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

into  the  pit,  broke  into  the  orchestra,  and  smashed  all  the  instruments. 
Astley's  theatre  never  recovered  the  shock  of  this  melee.  The  Kilkenny 
militia  were  on  duty,  but  did  not  interfere;  no  doubt  the  Ballyragget  boys 
felt  no  sympathy  for  the  Orangemen. 

"  Counsellor  Sampson  was  the  last  conductor  of  the  Press.  The  paper 
continued  to  be  printed  until  the  sixty-eighth  number,  when  a  guard  of 
the  Cavan  militia,  under  the  command  cf  a  rampant  Orangeman,  Maxwell, 
came  and  seized  the  office,  carried  away  all  the  newspapers  that  had  been 
printed,  and  destroyed  the  type,  presses,  etc.,  in  a  wanton  manner. 

"John  Stockdale,  the  publisher  of  the  Press,  was,  at  that  time,  under 
going  a  sentence  of  six  months'  imprisonment  in  Kilmainham  jail  for  refus 
ing  to  answer  certain  queries  put  to  him  by  the  House  of  Lords,  in  1797. 

"  In  1803,  he  was  implicated  in  the  insurrection  of  Robert  Emmet,  and 
was  again  imprisoned  on  the  charge  of  printing  the  proclamation  of  Emmet, 
and  remained  in  confinement  nearly  two  years.  He  came  out  of  jail  a  ru 
ined  man ;  he  met  with  no  assistance  from  those  whose  battles  he  had 
fought  in  his  paper ;  neither  from  the  "patriots "  nor  the  "  Catholics."  He 
died  in  Abbey  street,  Dublin,  the  llth  of  January,  1813." 

Peter  Fiunerty,  editor  and  publisher  of  the  Press,  was  liberated  from 
prison  in  August,  1798,  and  soon  afterwards  went  to  London  and  became 
connected  with  the  press  there.  It  was  through  him  that  Mr.  OTlanagan 
was  induced  to  leave  Ireland  and  proceed  to  London,  where  remunerative 
employment  had  been  secured  for  him  on  the  Morning  Chronicle.  His  wa 
ges  was  soon  largely  increased  on  account  of  his  excellent  conduct  and 
strict  habits  of  temperance,  from  which  he  never  departed  in  his  life  so  far 
as  to  be  prevented  from  attending  to  his  business.  He  remained  in  London 
for  several  years,  until  his  wife's  illness,  a-nd  her  desire  to  return  to  Dublin 
induced  him  to  give  up  his  employment.  His  wife  died  in  January,  1816, 
and  he  continued  to  work  for  several  Dublin  papers  until  1824,  when  he 
set  up  in  business  as  a  general  printer  on  his  own  account,  and  carried  it 
on  for  the  twelve  succeeding  years;  during  which  time  he  printed  editions 
of  several  important  works,  including  Latin  Philosophical  and  Theological 
class-books  for  Maynooth  College.  By  judicious  reading,  and  the  study  of 
works  of  a  historical  nature,  he,  at  this  time,  laid  in  a  large  stock  of 
general  information,  and  added  considerably  to  the  limited  education  which 
he  received  in  his  youth. 

Mr.  O'Flanagan  was  connected  with  the  Nation  newspaper  from  its  first 
issue  to  the  day  of  his  death,  and  it  was  in  the  printing  office  of  that 
paper  that  I  first  formed  his  acquaintance,  in  1848. 

Our    interview    was    brought    about    by  a    singular    circumstance.    In    my 


PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS   OF  >98.  147 

rambles  through  the  city,  I  found,  on  a  second-hand  book-stall,  a  bound  vol 
ume  of  the  Press.  On  my  enquiring  its  price,  the  owner  informed  me  it 
was  "  three  pounds "  —  and  added  the  (unnecessary)  information,  that  it 
was  "  a  very  scarce  book,"  at  the  same  time  courteously  inviting  me  to 
look  it  over  —  though  I  did  not  want  to  purchase  it.  I  thankfully  availed 
myself  of  his  kindness,  and  spent  some  time  in  reading  the  spirit-stirring 
contributions  which  bore  the  signatures  of  "MARCUS,"  "SARSFIKLD,"  "MoN- 
TANUS,"  etc.,  though  not  then  knowing  the  rightful  names  of  the  parties 
represented  by  those  noms  de  plume. 

On  the  following  day  I  told  one  of  my  most  esteemed  Dublin  friends, 
John  Duffy,  a  printer  employed  on  the  Nation,  of  my  curious  discovery; 
and  was  both  astonished  and  delighted,  when  he,  in  turn,  informed  me, 
that  one  of  the  printers  of  the  Press,  Mr.  Thomas  OTlanagan,  was  work 
ing  beside  himself  at  the  Nation  office;  that  he  was  his  most  intimate  friend, 
and  a  gentleman  whom  he  knew  I  would  like  to  become  acquainted  with; 
and  proposed  that  I  should  be  introduced  to  the  veteran  patriot  next  day, 
—  to  which  I  gladly  assented.  Mr.  Duffy  then  proceeded  to  give  me  an  out 
line  of  his  old  friend's  history  —  nearly  as  above  narrated.  He  dwelt  par 
ticularly  on  the  fact  that  Mr.  OTlanagan  had  exclusive  claim  to  the  setting 
up  of  the  "Poet's  Corner"  in  the  Nation,  and  as  a  conseqeuce,  that  every 
line  of  Thomas  Davis's  poetic  contributions  to  the  paper  had  been  printed 
by  him.  He  dwelt  feelingly  on  the  old  man's  affectionate  admiration  for 
Davis,  and  told  of  the  high  esteem  in  which  the  veteran  himself  was  held 
by  Charles  Gavan  Duffy,  and  the  rest  of  Davis's  associates  on  the  Nation, 

On  my  meeting  the  old  gentleman  next  day,  I  was  impressed  with  the 
resemblance  which,  (making  allowance  for  difference  in  age,)  his  face  bore 
to  that  of  the  portrait  of  Thomas  Davis,  both  in  the  general  outline  of  the 
features,  and  their  thoughtful,  kindly  expression.  Though  then  in  his  sev 
enty-second  year,  Mr.  OTlanagan  looked  hale  and  hearty  as  a  well-preserved 
man  of  sixty.  He  was  tall  and  strongly  built,  and  must,  when  in  his  prime, 
have  been  possessed  of  great  physical  powers.  His  reception  of  me  was 
most  kindly;  and  after  telling  me  that  Mr.  Duffy  had  informed  him  of  my 
meeting  the  old  volume  of  the  Press  and  the  impressions  it  made  on  me, 
he  added  "Yes!  I  worked  on  the  Press  during  the  term  of  its  existence  — 
fifty  years  ago."  We  did  not  talk  much,  then,  of  those  stirring,  by-gone 
times ;  but  as  he  expressed  a  desire  to  see  me  as  often  as  I  could  make  it 
convenient  to  call  at  the  office,  I  promised  to  avail  myself  of  the  invitation. 
At  parting,  he  pressed  my  hand  most  warmly ;  and  at  the  moment,  no  boy 
in  all  Ireland  felt  prouder  than  I  did  —  while  clasping  in  mine,  the  hand 
that  held  that  of  "LORD  EDWARD"  in  the  United  Irishmen's  fraternal 


148  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER, 

grasp :  but  then,  or  since,  I  could  never  find  words  to  give  expression  to- 
the  memories  of  the  past  and  hopes  for  the  future,  which,  commingled, 
crowded  on  my  thoughts  as  I  felt  the  contact  of  that  honored  hand. 

We  met  several  times  after  during  the  ensuing  eventful  weeks,  and,  hope 
fully,  discussed  the  exciting  occurrences  which  seemed  to  lead,  inevitably,  to 
wards  the  fulfilment  of  our  anticipations  —  a  life  and  death  struggle  for  the 
possession  of  Dublin.  But  when  the  unexpected  suspension  of  the  "  Habeus 
Corpus  Act,"  forced  the  popular  leaders,  yet  at  liberty,  to  change  their 
plans  and  abandon  the  capital  for  the  country,  in  my  sudden  departure  for 
the  scene  of  operations  in  the  south,  I  had  no  opportunity  of  taking  a  for 
mal  farewell  of  my  venerable  friend  —  as  I  would  have  done  had  time 
permitted. 

We  met  again,  however,  in  the  autum  of  1849,  when,  after  the  failure 
of  the  revolutionary  movement  which  gave  its  only  visible  sign  at  Cappo- 
quin,  I  found  myself  a  "fugitive  from  justice,"  under  the  care  of  my  old 
comrades  in  Dublin,  and  domiciled  in  the  home  of  my  noble-hearted  friend, 
John  Duffy.  Mr.  Duffy,  on  the  suppression  of  the  Nation  at  the  close  of 
July,  1848,  had  been  compelled  to  leave  Dublin;  but  when  the  "new  Nation" 
was  staited,  he  returned  and  went  to  work  in  his  former  position.  On 
enquiring  about  our  old  friend,  Mr.  O'Flanagan,  I  was  delighted  to  learn 
that  he,  also,  was  at  his  old  quarters  — in  charge  of  the  "Poet's  Corner," 
and  had  been  much  concerned  at  the  result  of  our  efforts  to  uphold  the 
good  old  cause. 

I  determined  to  see  him  at  once,  while  I  yet  had  the  opportunity,  but, 
at  Mr.  Duffy's  suggestion,  I  waited  until  he  had  prepared  him  for  my  com 
ing.  Our  meeting  was  more  affecting  than  I  had  anticipated;  for,  after  his 
fiist  warm  greeting,  and  while  still  retaining  my  hand  in  his,  he  gazed, 
wistfully  into  my  face,  and  the  big  tears  rolled  down  his  venerable  cheeks. 
The  thoughts  that  gave  rise  10  this  exhibition  of  emotion  I  could  only 
imagine.  I  felt  that  I  was  identified  in  his  memory  with  his  own  position 
in  early  manhood,  when  contemplating  the  disastrous  failure  of  his  glowing 
hopes,  and  that,  in  our  short  intercourse,  I  had  won  some  share  in  his 
affection.  When  we  parted  then,  I  had  but  little  hopes  of  our  ever  meeting 
again  in  life;  for.  under  the  circumstances  in  which  I  was  placed,  I  could 
not  well  repeat  my  visit  to  the  Nation  office.  However,  that  was  not  des 
tined  to  be  our  last  meeting. 

Nearly  twelve  years  had  elapsed  when  I,  once  more,  set  foot  in  Dublin. 
In  the  intervening  time  I  had  read  an  interesting  notice  of  my  old  friend, 
in  the  "Lives  and  Tunes  of  the  United  Irishmen,"  and  learned  therefrom 
that  he  was  then  (1857,)  still  living,  and  pursuing  his  usual  avocation.  But 


PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS   OF  '98.  149 

when  my  dear  comrade,  Captain  Frank  Welpley,  proposed  that  I  should 
accompany  him  to  the  Nation  office  to  see  his  fellow-townsmen  the  Messrs. 
Sullivan,  I  little  expected  to  meet  Mr.  O'Flanagan  there.  Nevertheless,  on 
my  enquiring  of  Mr.  Donall  Sullivan  if  the  old  gentleman  was  still  living? 
he  replied,  to  my  unspeakable  delight,  "Yes,  the  old  hero  is  still  with  us 
—  in  charge  of  the  'Poet's  Corner;'  there  he  is  over,  poor  man.  But,''  he 
added  feelingly,  on  seeing  my  eagerness  to  greet  my  old  friend,  "he  will 
not  recognize  you;  his  memory  is  all  but  gone;  he  is  as  a  little  child,  and 
has  been  so  for  some  time  past.  He  comes  to  work  from  habit,  and  we 
let  him  do  as  he  likes  in  the  office  to  which  he  is  so  much  attached.  We 
wanted  him  to  rest  for  the  remainder  of  his  life,  but  he  would  not  harbor 
the  idea;  'rest  would  kill  him,'  and  he  'would  earn  his  own  living  inde 
pendently  to  the  end  of  his  days.'" 

I  found,  on  greeting  my  dear  old  friend,  that  Mr.  Sullivan's  surmise  was 
correct;  for,  while  courteously  accepting  my  offered  hand,  he  told  me  he 
"  did  not  remember  me,"  and  a  moment's  reflection  showed  me  that  it  was 
useless  to  attempt  the  revival  of  Nature's  lost  powers,  so,  after  a  faltering 
"good  bye,"  and  a  last  clasp  of  the  brave  old  hand,  I  turned  sadly  away. 
Strange  to  say,  Thomas  O'Flanagan  lived  nearly  five  years  after  our 
last  interview,  and  worked  at  his  case  in  the  Nation  office  up  to  the  even 
ing  preceding  his  death. 

He  died  in  his  90th  year,  on  the  morning  of  the  24th  of  August,  18G6, 
and  on  the  30th  his  remains  were  interred  in  Golden  Bridge  Cemetery.  He 
was  followed  to  the  grave  by  the  entire  staff  of  the  Nation,  by  a  large 
contingent  of  the  printing  trade  of  Dublin,  and,  several  other  friends  and 
admirers,  and,  in  the  words  of  his  biographer,  "They  buried  the  old  man 
of  a  brave  spirit,  with  all  the  honor  and  respect  that  was  due  to  a  work 
ing  man  of  great  worth  and  unblemished  character." 

In  estimating  the  various  constituent  elements  which  combined  in  pro 
ducing  the  earnest  enthusiasm,  unselfishness  and  determined  spirit,  that  char 
acterized  the  Dublin  Confederates  of  1848,  the  sentiment  created  by  the 
precepts  and  example  of  the  surviving  heroes  of  1798,  should  not  be  over 
looked,  or  under-estimated.  How  many  of  those  noble  souls  contributed  to 
the  work,  I  have  no  means  of  ascertaining.  I  had  but  personal  intercourse 
with  the  "  THREE  "  whose  memories  I  would  fain  associate  in  these  psega 
with  that  of  the  young  patriot,  who,  among  all  his  compatriots  in  the  Irish 
Capital,  had  no  more  enthusiastic  and  devoted  admirers  than  they :  — 
"THE  BROTHERS  IN  HEART  ARE  UNITED  IN  DEATH!" 


150  MEMOIES  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  ME  AGREE. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 


THE  TREASON -FELONY  BILL.  —  SMITH  O'BRIEN  IX  THE  BRITISH 

BEAR-GARDEX. 

WHILE  the  indicted  "  seditkraary "  leaders,  O'Brien  and  Meagher,  were 
aggravating  their  original  offences  by  fraternizing  with  revolutionary  French 
men;  and  their  associate  in  iniquity,  Mitchel,  was,  by  voice  and  pen.  indoc 
trinating  his  own  countrymen  with  revolutionary  ideas  as  radical  as  those 
held  by  the  rough-and-ready  citizens  of  the  Fauburg  St.  Antoine;  the  Gov 
ernment  felt  that  their  existing  laws  were  utterly  inadequate  to  stem  the 
tide  of  disaffection  that  was  surging  and  foaming  around  their  constitutional 
ramparts,  and  threatening  to  overwhelm  them,  unless  extraordinary  measures 
were  taken  to  check  the  destructive  element. 

Acting  on  this  conviction,  "Her  Gracious  Majesty's"  advisirs,  under  the 
plea  that — "The  Government  in  Ireland  felt  itself  comparatively  powerless,'* 
introduced  a  bill  for  the  "  security  of  the  crown  and  government  of  the 
United  Kingdom."  It  was  known  as  the  "  Crime  and  Outrage  (Ireland) 
Bill,"  and  by  its  provisions,  what  were,  hitherto,  "  seditious  offences,"  (bail 
able,  and  liable  on  conviction  to  a  brief  term  of  imprisonment,)  were  con 
verted  into  "felonies"  —  "subjecting  those  who  shall  commit  them  to  the  penalty 
of  transportation  for  the  period  of  their  natural  lives.'" 

Under  the  provisions  of  this  new  "  Treason-Felony-Act,"  nearly  every 
speech  delivered  by  Confederates,  and  every  article  published  in  the  Nation 
and  United  Irishman,  for  the  five  preceding  weeks,  were  liable  to  be  prose 
cuted.  The  bill  w;is  introduced,  and  passed  the  first  reading,  on  the  7th  of 
April.  Three  days  after,  its  introducer,  Sir  George  Grey,  moved  that  it  be 
read  a  second  time.  Then  occurred  a  scene,  such  as  had  no  parallel  in  the 
annals  of  the  House  of  Commons. 

For,  to  the  astonishment  and  mortification  of  those  conspirators  against 
a  nation's  liberty,  there  uprose  in  their  midst  the  chief  of  the  detested 
"  rebels,  "  to  crush  whom  the  proposed  bill  was  specially  intended. 

MB.  WILLIAM  SMITH  O'BRIEN  rose  to  oppose  the  bill.  His  reception  is 
thus  described  by  the  London  correspondent  of  the  Freeman :  — 

"He    was  assailed  with  the  most  violent  bursts  of  yelling,   which  lasted 


THE   TREASON- FELONY  BILL.  151 

fully  ten  minutes,  and  throughout  his  really  magnificent  address  the  most 
daring  attempts  were  made  to  hoot  him  down. 

"Indeed,  to  such  an  extent  were  the  'beastly  bellowings'  of  the  Com 
mons  House  of  Parliament  carried  —  so  violently  did  fully  four  hundred 
'  popular  representatives '  conduct  themselves,  that  I  was  in  momentary  ex 
pectation  of  fit. ding  some  of  those  'fine  old  English'  gentlemanly  legislators 
exercising  their  physical  prowess  in  an  antagonistic  encounter  with  the  hon 
orable  member  for  Limerick.  Pen  cannot  couvey  any  adequate  idea  of  the 
rank  barbarism  of  this  degrading  exhibition. 

"The  howling  of  hungry  wolves  in  the  Zoological  Gardens  faintly 
resembled  the  yells  which  were  hounded  against  Mr.  O'Brien." 

Your  Parliament  Is  to  me  most  hateful, 

Discourteous  brawlers— half -blackleg  boors, 
Soul-selling  schemers,  to  trust  unfaithful, 

Adepts  In  falsehood  and  tricky  lures. 

From  the  Iiii  h  of  CRAOlBHix  AOIBHINN. 

MR,    O'BRIEN'S    SPEECH. 
DELIVERD  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS  APRIL  lOra,  1848. 

"I  do  not  rise,  sir,  for  the  purpose  of  entering  at  length  into  the  de 
tails  of  this  bill.  I  care  very  little  about  those  details. 

"  I  see  in  this  measure  a  new  attempt  to  meet  the  claims  of  Ireland 
by  coercion  rather  than  by  conciliation;  and  it  is  in  that  view,  rather  than 
upon  any  technical  form,  that  I  oppose  it.  I  can  assure  the  House,  in  all 
solemnity,  that  I  do  believe  this  attempt  which  you  are  now  making  to 
coerce  the  people  of  Ireland  will  be  utterly  futile.  The  people  will  laugh 
at  your  attempts  to  indict  a  nation.  (Cries  of  Oh!  oh!  and  some  cheers.) 
Be  that  as  it  may,  I  have  a  duty  to  perform,  and  from  the  performance 
of  that  duty  I  shall  not  shrink.  (Hear,  I. ear,  and  Oh!  oh!). 

"In  the  year  1843,  before  I  joined  the  Repeal  Association,  I  felt  it 
my  duty  to  make  a  last  appeal  in  this  House,  asking  from  them  what  was 
then  called  "Justice  to  Ireland,"  —  that  is,  a  series  of  measures  calculated 
to  give  satisfaction  to  the  Irish  people  —  consistent  with  the  maintenance  of 
the  Union  between  the  two  countries.  You  refused  that  appeal  —  an  appeal 
not  only  made  by  so  humble  an  individual  as  myself,  but  by  a  very  con 
siderable  portion  of  the  nation  of  which  I  am  one  of  the  representatives. 

"You  have  now  one  other  opportunity  of  meeting  the  demands  of  that 
nation  by  yielding  to  their  claims  for  a  separate  legislature  —  for  the  prin- 


152  MEMOIES   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

ciple  of  self-government,  as  under  the  ancient  constitution  of  Ireland,  by 
Queen,  Lords  and  Commons.  I  am  here  to  tell  you  to-night  that  I  sincerely 
believe,  if  you  refuse  those  claims  during  the  present  year,  you  will  have 
to  encounter  the  chance  of  a  republic  in  Ireland.  (Tremendous  cries  of  Oh! 
oh!  and  great  sensation). 

Unlike  all  the  other  governments  of  Em  ope,  the  liberal  government  of 
England,  instead  of  attempting  to  pacify  the  country  with  which  they  are 
most  closely  connected  by  timely  concessions,  meet  the  demands  of  the 
people  by  prosecutions  and  by  coercive  laws,  —  (a  few  cries  of  Hear,  hear, 
and  No,)  —  and  this  at  a  moment  when  your  foreign  minister  is  giving  his 
countenance  to  the  efforts  of  every  other  people  in  Europe  to  redeem  them 
selves  from  servitude.  I  ask  no  better  parallel  for  the  condition  of  Ireland 
towards  this  country  than  that  of  Sicily  in  relation  to  Naples;  and  what  is 
the  noble  lord  doing  with  respect  to  the  people  of  Sicily  —  the  parallel 
state  of  Ireland  —  but  saying  the  people  are  perfectly  right  in  throwing  off 
the  Neapolitan  dominion? 

"  Sir,  in  my  absence,  charges  have  been  brought  against  me.  (Hear, 
hear).  If  gentlemen  have  charges  to  make  against  me,  I  should  like  them 
to  be  made  here  to-night.  (Hear,  hear).  Charges  have  been  brought  against 
me  as  an  individual,  and  against  the  party  with  whom  I  act.  (Oh,  and 
ironical  cheers).  I  am  here  to  answer  those  charges,  both  for  myself  and 
for  the  party  with  which  I  act;  and  I  will  say  this  with  regard  to  my 
companions  in  the  noble  struggle  iu  which  we  are  engaged  —  (loud  laugh 
ter)  —  that  though  I  have  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the  most  distin 
guished  men  of  all  parties  in  this  House,  I  never  met  a  number  of  men 
acting  for  a  great  political  object  who  appeared  to  me,  at  least,  to  be  ani 
mated  by  such  pure  and  disinterested  motives  —  (loud  laughter) — as  those 
with  whom  it  is  my  pride  to  act. 

"Now,  sir,  with  regard  to  myself.  I  have  been  called  a  traitor.  (A  tre 
mendous  burst  of  cheers  followed  this  sentence,  twice  renewed  before  silence 
was  restored.)  I  do  not  profess  disloyalty  to  the  Queen  of  England.  (Iron 
ical  applause.)  But  if  it  is  treason  to  profess  disloyalty  to  this  House,  and 
to  the  government  of  Ireland  by  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  — if  that 
be  treason,  I  avow  the  treason.  (Oh!  and  great  excitement.)  Nay,  more, 
I  say  it  shall  be  the  study  of  my  life  to  overthrow  the  dominion  of  this 
Parliament  over  Ireland.  (Hear,  hear,  and  cries  of  Oh!).  I  undertake  to 
say,  and  I  challenge  any  man  to  rebut  the  statement,  that  there  is  no  man 
in  this  House  who  stands  higher  in  his  public  character  than  I  do.  (Burst, 
of  laugter).  I  am  certain  that,  both  in  this  House,  and  in  my  countrys 
there  are  men  infinitely  my  superiors  in  talent;  but,  since  I  have  had  the 


MR.    O'BRIEN'S  SPEECH  153 

honor  of  a  seat,  as  one  of  the  members  for  the  county  of  Limerick,  I  can 
safely  say,  that  I  have  never  given  one  vote  in  this  House  from  any  other 
consideration  than  a  sincere  and  honest  desire  to  promote  the  public  wel 
fare.  (Hear,  hear).  I  defy  any  man  to  say  that  the  votes  I  have  given 
have  been  prompted  by  auy  other  consideration.  (Hear,  hear,  hear).  I  tell 
the  House  more,  now  that  I  am  to  be  au  arraigned  criminal,  that  I  would 
gladly  accept  the  most  ignominious  death  that  could  be  inflicted  upon  me  — 
(ironical  cheers) — rather  than  witness  the  sufferings  and  the  indignities  that 
I  have  seen  inflicted  by  this  legislature  upon  my  countrymen  during  the 
last  thirty  years  of  my  life. 

"It  has  been  stated  that  I  went  to  France  for  the  purpose  of  enlisting 
French  aid  —  (hear,  hear,) — that  is  to  say,  armed  aid  and  succor  for  my 
countrymen  in  the  struggle  in  which  they  are  engaged.  That  is  a  misap 
prehension.  (Oh,  oh,  oh).  If  I  had  gone  to  France  asking  for  aid  of  an 
armed  kind,  believe  me  I  should  have  come  back  accompanied  by  a  toler 
ably  large  legion  of  troops.  (Some  laughter,  and  Oh,  oh).  You  may  believe 
what  I  say.  I  only  wish  you  had  been  in  France.  (A  laugh.)  The  lan 
guage  I  have  held  in  Ireland  and  in  France  to  my  countrymen,  has  been 
this  —  that  Irish  freedom  must  be  won  by  Irish  courage  and  Irish  firmness. 
I  have  no  desire  to  impose  upon  my  country  one  description  of  servitude 
in  the  place  of  another,  —  (hear,  hear,)  — for  I  believe  that  the  liberty  of 
Ireland,  and  its  redemption  from  its  present  position,  were  they  won  by 
foreign  bayonets,  could  only  be  retained  In  its  possession  by  foreign  bayo 
nets  ;  and,  therefore,  it  is  not  'my  desire  or  my  intention  to  place  my  country 
under  foreign  dominion.  (Hear,  hear). 

"What  I  did,  however,  I  will  boldly  avow  in  this  House.  I  went  on 
behalf  of  a  large  portion  of  my  countrymen,  as  one  of  a  deputation  to 
congratulate  the  French  nation  upon  the  overthrow  of  a  dynasty  which  had 
forfeited  all  claim  to  continue  in  possession  of  the  throne  of  France :  upon 
having  shown  to  the  nations  of  the  world  — and  their  example  has,  to  a 
certain  extent,  already  had  that  effect  — how  other  nations  were  to  win 
their  liberties,  and  to  thank  them  for  having  given  an  impulse  to  the  cause 
of  freedom,  and  which,  we  hope,  will  re-act  beneficially  upon  our  own 
country;  but  I  have  no  hesitation  whatever  in  affirming  —  and  with  pleasure 
I  avow  —  that  I  did  find,  on  the  part  of  the  French  people,  a  great  amount 
of  intense  sympathy  with  Ireland.  I  may  add,  that  I  do  not  believe  that 
that  sympathy  is  confined  to  France  alone,  but  that  every  nation  in  the 
world,  every  enlightened  man,  every  statesman  in  the  civilized  globe,  par 
takes  in  it,  and  looks  upon  Ireland  as  you  look  upon  Poland,  and  upon 


154  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAQHER. 

your   connection    with   Ireland   as    entirely  analogous  to  that  of  Russia  with 
Poland.     (Laughter). 

"  Sir,  I  will  not  reject  the  sympathy  of  other  nations ;  but  at  the  same  time 
I  am  happy  to  think  that  there  is  among  the  middling  and  humbler  classes  of 
England  a  large  amount  of  sympathy  with  Ireland  — that  there  is  amongst 
them  an  anxious  desire  that  they  should  obtain  that  power  of  legislation  which 
they  wish;  and  it  gives  me  great  satisfaction  to  think  that  amongst  the 
Chartists,  from  five  millions  of  whom — (a  laugh)  —  there  has  been  a  peti 
tion  presented  this  evening,  there  is  scarce  an  individual  who  does  not  sym 
pathise  with  the  cause  of  Ireland.  (Hear,  here,  from  Mr.  Fergus  O'Connor 
and  derisive  cheers  from  all  parts  of  the  House). 

"These  men  feel  that  they  have  been  unjustly  excluded  from  all  share 
in  political  power;  they  are  resolved  that  the  working-classes  shall  assert 
their  ri^ht  to  a  share  in  the  representation  of  this  country,  and  they  know 
they  cannot  do  so  at  a  better  time  than  when  you  are  embarrassed  in 
your  arrangements  with  Ireland.  Therefore,  whether  it  be  offered  from  pol 
icy  or  sincere  sympathy,  I  trust  that  the  .Repealers  of  Ireland  will  accept 
that  aid  which  the  Chartists  are  universally  prepared  to  give  them. 

"Now,  I  avow ( the  fact  —  I  know  not  whether  it  be  illegal  or  not  — that 
I  have  been  instrumental  in  asking  my  countrymen  to  arm.  (Marks  of  sur 
prise  and  sensation).  I  conceive  that  under  the  present  circumstances  of  all 
nations,  it  is  the  duty  of  every  man  to  obtain  the  possession,  and  learn  the 
use  of  arms.  There  is  not  a  nation  I  believe  in  Europe,  which  does  not 
make  it  part  of  its  duty  to  instruct  its  citizets' in  the  use  of  arms;  and  I 
conceive  that  it  is  the  peculiar  duty  of  the  Irish  people  to  obtain  the  pos 
session  of  arms  at  a  time  when  you  tell  them  you  aie  prepared  to  crush 
their  expression  of  opinion,  not  by  argument,  but  by  brute  force.  (Loud 
cries  of  Oh,  oh,  and  expressions  of  disapprobation). 

"Let  me  remind  the  gentlemen  opposite  of  what  took  place  in  1782. 
It  was  then  no  crime  in  my  countrymen  to  enlist  themselves  in  armed 
array  for  the  defence  of  their  country  against  foreign  powers,  By  that 
armed  array  they  obtained  that  independence  which  England  solemnly  re 
corded  on  her  statute  book  as  the  inalienable  right  of  the  Irish  people  — 
a  compact  which  she  has  since  basely  and  perfidiously  violated.  I  ask  them 
to  arm  now  for  the  preservation  of  order,  as  well  as  for  the  purpose  ol 
acquiring  their  liberties;  and  as  I  think  it  right  that  there  should  be  no- 
mistake  as  to  the  opinions,  and  sentiments,  and  intentions  of  the  body  with 
whom  I  act,  I  will  read  a  resolution  which  was  passed  at  the  last  meeting 
of  the  Irish  Confederation.  It  was  as  follows: 

" '  Resolved,  —  That    we    hereby  repudiate,   as   a  gross   calumny,   the  impu 


MR   O'BEIEN'S  SPEECH  155 

taion  thrown  out  upon  us  by  Lord  John  Kussell,  that  the  object  of  this 
Confederation  is  social  disorder,  and  a  violent  separation  from  Great  Britain ; 
and  we  hereby  declare  that  our  object  is  now,  as  it  always  was,  the  legis 
lative  independence  of  Ireland,  and  thereby  the  attainment  of  social  order; 
and  we  desire  that  such  independence  may  be  obtained,  if  possible,  without 
civil  war.'  (A  laugh). 

""We  have  also,  acting  on  the  suggestion  of  the  late  illustrous  leader  of 
the  Irish  people,  recommended  our  countrymen  to  send  to  the  metropolis  of 
Ireland  a  National  Council  to  be  composed  of  three  hundred  individuals; 
and  I  trust  that  before  long  that  National  Council  will  be  establshed  in 
Dublin.  With  all  deference  to  the  Irish  members  in  this  House,  we  do  feel 
that  there  is  at  present  no  sufficient  exponent  of  the  opinions  of  the  Irish 
nation.  The  Irish  members  represent  not  more  than  one  in  each  hundred 
of  the  population  of  Ireland.  (Hear).  "VVe  are,  therefore,  prepared  to  call 
upon  the  people  of  Ireland  to  send  to  Dublin  such  a  board;  and  with  that 
body  I  would  recommend  the  noble  lord  to  enter  into  early  and  earnest 
negotiations — (loud  and  derisive  laughter,)  —  for  the  purpose  of  effecting  an 
amicable  settlement  of  the  question  now  at  issue  between  the  two  countries. 
(Eenewed  laughter). 

"  I  was  quite  prepared  when  I  came  here  to  experience  the  insulting 
sneers  that  I  have  met;  yet,  sir,  for  myself,  I  believe  that  we  shall  eventu 
ally  succeed  in  our  eftbrts;  and  I  can  tell  you  that  this  is  not  a  subject 
for  sneering  or  levity.  If  we  should  unfortunately  lend  ourselves  to  the 
designs  of  the  government,  and  be  led  into  overt  acts  of  violence,  I  believe 
that  in  such  a  case  we  shall  have  at  least  the  emancipation  of  our  country 
postponed. 

"The  government  are  doing  all  in  their  power  to  stimulate  the  people 
to  insurrection.  What  better  evidence  need  be  produced  of  such  an  intention 
than  the  recent  employment  of  spies  by  officials  of  the  Castle  to  encourage 
the  manufacture  of  pikes?  (Hear,  hear).  The  noble  lord  is  prepared  to 
govern  Ireland,  not  by  satisfying  the  demands  of  the  people,  but  by  a  sys 
tem  of  detective  pclice;  by  employing  men  who  instigate  others  to  crime 
for  the  purpose  of  betraying  them?  (Hear,  hear).  Is  that  to  be  the  prin 
ciple  on  which  to  govern  Ireland?  The  noble  lord  relies  upon  packed  juries. 
(A  laugh).  If  he  gets  a  fair  jury  I  say  it  is  impossible  to  obtain  a  ver 
dict.  Let  me  tell  him  that  —  if  he  fails,  the  prestige  and  influence  of  the 
government  is  overthrown  by  that  defeat;  and  if  there  be  found  one  honest 
and  intelligent  juror  out  of  the  twelve  to  try  us,  his  object  is  defeated ; 
but  if  he  succeed,  what  does  he  obtain?  He  little  knows  the  spirit  that 
prevails  in  Ireland,  if  he  does  not  know  that  for  every  man  he  prosecutes, 


106  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

he  brings  out  fifty,  oiie  hundred,  aye  one  thousand  men,  who  consider  that, 
so  far  from  being  disgraced  by  being  convicted  for  serving  their  country, 
they  would  gladly  suffer  any  consequences  in  such  a  cause.  (A  laugh). 

"The  noble  lord  has  boasted  in  this  House  of  the  signatures  to  the 
addresses  of  support  which  have  been  sent  to  Lord  Clarendon.  But  what  is 
their  number?  I  think  some  two  hundred  and  thirty  thousand,  persons  whose 
names,  by-the-way,  are  not  known  —  that  is,  one-thirtieth  of  the  population  have 
been  induced,  by  the  most  active  solicitation,  to  sign  those  addresses.  Now, 
I  warn  the  noble  lord  that  he  can  place  no  reliance  whatever  on  the  influ 
ence  of  the  gentry  of  Ireland.  The  gentry  throughout  three-fourths  of  Ire 
land  are  entirely  powerless ;  and  all  they  could  do  with  the  aid  of  British 
bayonets  would  be  to  save  themselves.  The  time  was  when  they  had  influ 
ence,  but  it  is  not  so  now. 

"Let  the  noble  lord  ask  his  colleague,  Lord  Clanricarde,  what  number 
of  followers  he  can  muster  in  the  county  in  which  the  De  Burghs  once  led 
a  formidable  clan?  Ask  the  Duke  of  Leinster,  who  would  be  the  most 
powerful  subject  in  Europe  if  acting  with  the  people,  how  many  would  fol 
low  him  in  a  struggle  against  the  Irish  nation?  I  believe  he  could  not  have 
a  single  partizan  out  of  his  own  family.  Ask  Lord  Ormonde,  one  of  the 
most  amiable  men  in  Ireland,  who  is  universally  beloved  even  by  those 
who  differ  from  him  in  political  opinion  —  ask  how  many  men  would  fol 
low  his  banner?  Why,  the  noble  lord  must  know,  that,  to  look  to  the 
gentry  of  Ireland  in  the  case  of  a  struggle,  is  to  place  reliance  on  a  mere 
fictitious  hope.  If  this  question  should  be  settled  by  a  recourse  to  the  last 
extremity  -~  which  I,  for  one,  most  ardently  and  earnestly  deprecate  —  the 
Irish  gentry  would  be  exceedingly  glad  to  compound  with  any  party  which 
would  allow  them  to  remain  in  possession  of  their  estates.  (A  laugh). 
Yon  can  place,  therefore,  no  reliance  on  them. 

"Then,  there  is  a  body,  I  admit,  of  considerable  intrinsic  strength  — 
the  Orangemen  of  Ireland.  (Cheers). 

"  But  the  Orangemen  of  Ireland  are  at  this  time  exceedingly  discon 
tented  with  the  government  of  this  country.  The  bill  of  the  right  honorable 
gentleman,  the  Secretary  for  Ireland,  is  about  to  deprive  them  of  that  ten 
ant  right  which  they  value  as  an  inheritance;  and  do  you  suppose  that  they 
can  have  any  affection  for  a  government  which  is  about  to  strip  them  of 
their  means  of  subsistence?  Amongst  the  Orangemen  of  the  North  there  exists 
a  great  deal  of  the  spirit  of  the  United  Irishmen,  and  it  is  singular  that 
some  of  the  Confederate  party  who  entertain  the  most  extreme  opinions  are 
Closely  connected  with  the  Orangemen  of  the  north  of  Ireland. 

"  I  can  truly  say,  that  I  most   ardently  desire  that  the  Orangemen  should 


MR   O'BEIEN'S  SPEECH  157 

arm.  I  am  exceedingly  anxious  that  every  portion  of  the  people  of  Ireland 
should  acquire  something  like  the  power  to  vindicate  their  rights,  and  there 
fore,  when  you  talk  of  arming  the  Orangemen,  you  do  that  which  rather 
gives  us  satisfaction  than  conveys  any  uneasiness.  (A  laugh). 

"The  government  relies  next  upon  the  police  force.  Xow,  that  force 
is  ten  thousand  strong,  and  is  a  remarbably  fine  body  of  men,  but  it  is 
entirely  national ;  they  are  taken  from  the  people,  and  though  they  are 
excellent  preservers  of  order  —  and  though  I  hope  they  will  preserve  order 

—  I    honor    them    for    the    attempt — yet  if  we  were  ever  led  to  a  great  na 
tional  strife  between  nation  and  nation,  the  policemen  would  be  too  glad  to 
obtain  the  certainty  of    the    future    honors    and  renown   which  would  belong 
to  them  if  they  acted  as  the  saviors  of  their  country,  not  to  take  a  part  in 
their  country's  cause. 

"The  government  next  relies  upon  the  army. 

"Xow  the  army  is  a  very  insignificant  fraction  of  the  whole  population, 
and  if,  during  the  rebellion,  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  armed  troops 
were  required  to  retain  possession  of  two  or  three  counties  in  Ireland,  un 
der  the  circumstances,  do  you  suppose,  if  it  were  to  come  to  a  struggle, 
which  God  forbid — (a  laugh) — do  you  suppose  that  your  thirty  thousand 
men  at  present  under  arms  in  Ireland,  would  present  any  serious  obstacle 
to  the  attainment  of  their  wishes  by  the  people  of  Ireland?  Eemember,  too, 
that  from  the  nature  of  the  country  —  from  its  subdivision  into  small  fields 

—  cavalry  could  not  act   at  all;    and,   if  the  public  communications  were  ob 
structed,   artillery  could  not  be  worked  without  the  greatest  difficulty.     Such 
would  be  your    position    in  case  you  could  place  full  reliance  on  the  army: 
but,   however  painful   to  you    may   be  the  reflection,   I  believe  that  you  can 
not    rely  upon    the    army  in    Ireland.     (Loud    cries    of    Oh!   oh!)     I    am  per 
suaded    that    if    there    were    a    struggle    to-morrow,    a    large    portion    of   the 
army  in  Ireland  would  refuse  to  act  against  the  people.     (Cries  of  Oh !   and 
Order). 

"I  do  not  know  what  is  the  meaning  of  liberty  of  speech,  if  one  can 
not  speak  freely  upon  these  questions.  The  object  of  my  argument  has  been 
this  —  for  I  treat  with  the  most  utter  disdain  the  attempts  of  the  govern 
ment  to  put  me  down  by  prosecution  —  (great  laughter)  —  the  object  of  my 
argument  has  been  to  show  that  if  ever,  unhappily,  those  two  great  coun 
tries  should  come  into  a  collision,  the  result  of  the  collision  would  be  ex 
tremely  uncertain,  and  cannot,  in  any  case,  be  otherwise  than  disastrous  to 
you;  and  if  you  fail,  it  might  not  be  uuadvisable  to  consider  what  would 
be  the  condition  of  England  with  an  independent  Republic  on  oue  side,  and 
an  independent  Republic  on  the  other.  (Loud;  laughter). 


158  MEMOIES  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

"  But,  if  you  succeed,  you  decimate  the  inhabitants,  you  destroy  their 
Industry,  you  paralyse  their  energy,  and  you  are  left  with  what  you  had 
before  —  a  discontented  population,  useless  to  you,  whilst  you  are  despised 
by  all  good  men. 

"I  do,  under  these  circumstances  implore  you,  before  it  is  too  late,  to 
consider  the  portentous  warnings  which  have  been  presented  by  what  has 
occurred  in  other  countries.  Before  the  knell  of  English  power  in  Ireland 
is  sounded,  I  beg  of  you  to  make  friends  of  the  Irish  people,  by  conceding 
to  them  those  national  rights  which  they  claim,  and  to  which,  by  every 
right,  human  and  divine,  they  are  entitled.  (A  laugh). 

"Now,  sir,  I  have  used  no  reserve  on  the  present  occasion  in  the  com 
mencement  of  these  observations,  and  I  shall  use  none  at  their  conclusion. 

"  When  the  noble  lord  tells  me  I  am  a  traitor  to  the  crown,  I  repel 
the  charge  and  retort  it.  (Roars  of  laughter).  And  I  tell  him  that  if,  in 
the  present  condition  of  Europe,  he  attempts,  as  regards  his  own  fellow- 
countrymen,  to  crush  all  the  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  democracy  to  obtain 
those  rights  which  the  people  of  other  countries  have  obtained;  and  if,  as 
regards  my  country,  he  refuses  our  demand  for  self-governnif  nt —  if  he  acts 
towards  both  kingdoms  the  part  of  Guizot  and  Metternich  in  their  respective 
countries,  then,  I  tell  him,  it  is  not  I,  but  he  and  his  colleagues,  that  are 
traitors  to  the  country,  the  Queen,  and  the  constitution."  (Slight  applause, 
but  almost  univeisal  groaning). 

[This  exhibition  of  British  aristocratic  blackguardism,  so,  characteristic  of 
the  cowardly  bully,  was,  to  some  extent,  stimulated  by  the  triumph  which, 
on  that  day,  the  "  ruling  classes "  had  achieved  over  their  discontented 
*k  lower  orders"  —  the  English  Chartists. 

The  latter  body  had,  for  some  weeks  previous,  been  engaged  in  prepar 
ing  a  petition  to  parliament  embodying  their  demands  for  reform.  They 
announced  that  this  document  —  with  five  million  signatures  attached  — 
would  be  presented  to  parliament  on  the  10th  of  April,  under  charge  of 
an  escort  of  half  a  million  able-bodied  representatives  of  the  English 
Democracy,  who,  converging  by  several  designated  routes,  on  Kensington 
Common,  would  there  hold  a  meeting,  and  march  thence  in  procession  to 
the  Houses  of  Parliament  —  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Thames. 

The  Government,  fearful  of  a  possible  Revolution  —  and  the  consequent 
Back  of  London  —  on  the  6th  of  April,  issued  a  Proclamation  prohibiting 
both  the  contemplated  public  meeting  and  the  procession  through  London. 
On  the  following  day,  the  Chartist  National  Convention  issued  a  counter- 
proclamation,  expressing  their  determination,  as  peaceably  disposed  men,  to 


ME.    O'BRIEN'S  SPEECH.  159 

<sarry  out  their    original   programme    at  all  hazards;    whereupon  the  Govern 
ment  made  preparations  to  meet    the  emergency,  and  enforce  its  supremacy. 

As  a  first  precautionary  measure,  the  Queen  and  royal  family  left  Lon 
don  for  the  Isle  of  Wight. 

Next,  under  the  dread  of  loss  of  their  property  by  general  plunder, 
over  two  hundred  thousand  "  special  constables "  were  enrolled  from  the 
shop-keepers  and  other  non-working  classes  of  London;  the  employes  in  all 
public  offices  were  supplied  with  arms  from  the  Tower;  the  regular  police 
force  were  concentrated  on  the  most  suspicious  points,  while  the  regular 
military  force  —  amounting  to  about  ten  thousand  men  —  occupied  the  best 
strategic  positions,  and  defended  the  government  buildings,  though  not  a 
soldier  was  visible  on  the  streets. 

The  meeting  on  Kensington  Common  was  duly  held,  but  the  leaders 
were  informed  by  the  police  authorities  that,  the  procession  would  not  be 
allowed  to  return  over  any  of  the  bridges,  and  that  "  if  any  attempt  were 
made  to  do  so  the  parties  making  it  must  take  the  consequences." 

Thus  trapped,  through  the  incapacity  or  cowardice  of  their  leaders,  the 
Chartists  were  forced  to  forego  their  march  to  the  Parliament  House  and 
disperse  to  their  several  homes,  while  the  monster  petition  was  conveyed 
piecemeal  in  cabs  to  the  House  of  Commons,  where  it  was  presented  by 
Fergus  O'Connor,  and  ordered  to  lie  on  the  table,  from  which  it  was  sub 
sequently  removed  by  four  messengers  of  the  House  —  and  so  ended  the  great 
Chartist  demonstration  in  London. 

No  wonder  the  aristocrats  felt  jubilant,  and  disposed  to  exhibit  their 
malignity  towards  the  champion  of  human  freedom — after  their  recovery 
from  their  recent  fright;  and  no  wonder  that  the  Irish  ^Revolutionists  hence 
forth  set  little  store  by  the  promises  of  cooperation  given  them  on  behalf 
of  their  fellow-subjects  across  St.  George's  Channel. 

Verily,  there  was  a  tangible  difference  between  the  Democracy  of  Paris 
and  London  in  those  days.  But  —  to  quote  an  old  Irish  saying :  — 

".ZVar  Slan  a  Comortasl" 


160  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER, 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

AN  IRISH  WELCOME -HOME.  — ME  AGHER'S  IMPRESSIONS  OF 

FRANCE. 

Filled  Is  the  wide  hall 
With  friends  from  wall  to  wall, 
Where  their  welcome  shakes  the  banners  like  a  storm. 

DAVIS, 

SMITH  O'BRIEN  was  amply  compensated  for  the  rudeness  of  England's 
parliamentary  boors,  by  the  enthusiastic  reception  accorded  himself  and  his 
fellow-members  of  the  deputation  to  France  by  their  own  warm-hearted 
countrymen  and  countywomen,  at  the  close  of  that  eventful  week,  iu  the 
Irish  capital. 

The  committee  of  the  trades  and  citizens  of  Dublin  had  determined  to 
give  their  deputies  a  suitable  "Welcome -Home,"  and,  in  order  that  the 
ladies  should  have  an  opportunity  of  participating  therein,  it  was  arranged 
that  a  soiree  be  given  in  honor  of  the  returned  national  representatives. 

The  entertainment  was  given  on  Saturday  evening,  April  15th,  in  the 
Music  Hall,  and  the  scene  presented  on  that  joyous  occasion  was  one  of  the 
grandest  and  most  exhilirating  I  ever  witnessed  inside  four  walls. 

The  building  was  filled  to  its  utmost  seating  capacity,  the  boxes  and 
galleries  being  mostly  occupied  by  ladies.  Flags  were  suspended  at  various 
parts  of  the  walls  —  from  the  boxes,  and  on  the  stage.  Rows  of  small  tea- 
tables  were  placed  in  the  body  of  the  hall,  and  before  the  entertainment 
commenced  every  seat  was  occupied.  A  most  conspicuous  figure  on  the  stage 
was  that  of  an  Irisher  Harper  attired  in  the  ancient  Irish  national  costume, 
seated  in  the  vicinity  of  the  chair  —  his  harp  between  his  knees.  A  fine 
temperance  band  was  also  present,  and  during  the  evening  delighted  the 
audience  by  their  exquisite  rendering  of  appropriate  selections  from  the 
national  melodies. 

The  demonstration  was  one  in  which  both  sections  of  the  Repealers  cor 
dially  united.  Four  of  the  leading  members  of  the  Repeal  Association  Com 
mittee  were  present  on  the  stage  in  the  uniform  of  the  '82  Club,  one  of 
them,  Andrew  R.  Stritch,  barrister,  was  called  to  the  chair,  and  —  in  his 
official  capacity  —  proposed  the  toasts  of  the  evening. 


AN  IEISH   WELCOME -HOME.  1G1 

The  first  toast: — "THE  QUEEN  OF  IRELAND!"  was  received  respectfully, 
but  no  orator  was  called  upon  to  respond,  neither  did  any  volunteer,  for 
obvious  reasons. 

The  next  toast  was  —  "THE  PEOPLE! — By  whose  permission  kings  and 
governments,  as  kings  and  governments  exist,  and  for  whom  alone  they 
should  rule." 

Mr.  S.  K.  Frazer  (member  of  the  Repeal  Association  Committee,)  res 
ponded  in  a  spirited  speech,  in  which  the  "one  drop  of  blood"  theory  was 
emphatically  repudiated.  He  said  he  "  came  there  that  night  as  a  citizen  of 
Dublin  to  tender  his  sympathy  and  support  to  William  Smith  O'Brien  —  be 
cause  heretofore  he  differed  somewhat  in  opinion  with  that  gentleman,  but 
all  that  was  now  at  an  end.  If  they  were  to  be  deprived  of  the  last  remnant 
of  their  liberty,  it  should  be  blotted  out  in  their  blood. 

"THE  LEGISLATIVE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  IRELAND,  AND  THE  MEMORY  OF 
THE  VOLUNTEERS  ! ''  was  given,  and  duly  honored,  after  which  came  the 
toast  of  the  evening  — 

"IRELAND'S  UNCOMPROMISING  PATRIOT — WILLIAM  SMITH  O'BRIEN!" 
In  the  cheers  that  greeted  that  toast,  welcome,  admiration,  and  prideful 
affection  for  the  people's  champion  were  commingled  with  scorn,  hatred,  and 
defiance  for  his  enemies.  Like  fife-notes  in  the  clangor  of  battle,  the  shrill 
voices  of  the  women  pierced  through  the  tumult  —  as  the  fair  enthusiasts, 
alternately  pale,  or  flushed  with  intense  passionate  excitement,  stood  wildly 
waving  handkerchiefs,  or  clapping  hands  —  while  the  pendant  banners  actually 
shook  as  if  in  animated  response  to  the  storm  ci  human  passion  vibrating 
around  them. 

That  was  a  scene  to  excite  the  senses,  and  leave  an  indelible  impression 
on  the  heart  and  memory. 

A  lull  in  the  storm  that  woke  the  echoes  alike  in  animated  breasts  and 
inanimate  walls,  —  and  a  tinkle  is  heard  which  is  instantly  followed  by  a 
dp«p  stillness,  and  a  turning  of  all  heads  in  the  direction  of  the  stage. 
The  harper  had  just  touched  his  strings  by  way  of  prelude,  and  suddenly 
there  burst  upon  the  entranced  audience  the  spirit-stirring  notes  of  "jBn'»n 
Loru's  March!" 

When  the  applause  which  greeted  the  minstrel's  performance  of  this  glo 
rious  martial  air  had  subsided,  Mr.  P.  O'Donohue  stepped  forward,  and  ad 
dressing  Mr.  William  Smith  O'Brien,  read  an  address  from  the  Trades  and 
Citizens'  Committee  to  that  gentleman  and  the  other  deputies  to  France. 
The  address,  which  contained  a  warm  welcome  to  the  deputies,  was  then 
presented  to  Mr.  O'Brien. 


162  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

FLAG  PRESENTATIONS. 

Mr.  P.  J.  Barry  then  came  forward,  and,  after  reading  an  address  to 
Mr.  O'Brien  expressive  of  the  determination  of  the  fifteen  thousand  men  who 
lately  met  at  the  North  Wall,  to  sustain  that  gentleman  in  his  labors  f<  r 
Ireland,  presented  him  with  a  small  banner  of  green  satin,  beautifully  em 
broidered,  and  richly  fringed  with  gold  lace.  It  bore  the  inscription  :  — 

"WILLIAM  SMITH  O'BRIEN,  M.  P., 
IRELAND'S  TRUEST  PATRIOT." 

Mr.  O'Brien  received  the  banner  amid  renewed  cheeing. 

Mr.  S.  R.  Frazer  (member  of  the  Repeal  Association  Committee,)  then 
Came  forward  bearing  an  old  banner  of  green  silk,  richly  ornamented,  and 
bearing  the  Volunteers's  arms  and  motto  on  its  centre.  It  was  one  of  the 
original  flags  of  the  3rd  Regiment  of  Irish  Volunteers.  Handing  the  time- 
honored  relic  to  Mr.  O'Brien,  Mr.  Frazer  said: 

"Sir,  I  have  been  requested  to  present  you  this  flag." 

Mr.  O'Brien  received  the  flag  amid  enthusiastic  cheers,  and,  holding  it  in 
his  hand,  proceeded  to  address  the  assembly  in  a  lengthy  and  soul-stirring 
•peech,  which  he  commenced  by  saying  that  often  as  it  had  been  his  lot 
to  address  meetings  of  his  countrymen  with  sentiments  of  pride  and  satis 
faction,  he  could  truly  say,  that,  upon  no  former  occasion  had  he  met  no 
assemblage  of  Irishmen  with  so  much  exultation  as  he  then  felt.  Contiuu 
Ing,  he  said:  — 

"In  that  beautiful  emblem  you  have  presented  me  I  am  flattered  by 
the  appellation  of  being  '  Ireland's  truest  patriot.'  Now  I  take  the  liberty 
to  reject  that  compliment.  I  tell  you  there  are  thousands  of  men  as  true 
In  their  patriotism  as  I  am,  —  and  I  tell  you  more,  I  would  despair  for  this 
country  if  I  did  not  feel  assured  that  such  was  the  case." 

At  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  O'Brien's  speech,  the  chairman  announced  the 
next  toast  on  the  list :  — 

"MESSRS.  MEAGHER,  O'GORMAN  AND  HOLLYWOOD,  and  the  remainder  of 
the  deputation  to  France  I " 

Mr.  Meagher  rose  to  return  thanks  on  behalf  of  the  deputation  —  amid 
great  cheers. 

MR.  MEAGHER'S  SPEECH. 

Though  I  have  seen  no  full  report  of  the  speech  delivered  by  Mr. 
Meagher  on  this  occasion,  yet  the  synopsis  given  below  will  afford  a  fair 
Idea  of  its  substance.  After  referring  to  Lamartine's  reply  to  the  deputa- 


ME.    ME 'AG HERS  SPEECH.  163 

tion  —  in  which  he  observed  that  "the  nationality  of  Ireland  was  as  dis 
tinctively  recognized  as  that  of  Italy  and  Poland  by  the  Provisional  Gov 
ernment  of  France,"  Mr.  Meagher  continued. 

"I  went  to  France  animated  with  a  love  of  freedom,  and  glorying  in 
it!?  service.  I  have  returned  from  France  with  this  love  deepened  in  my  soul 

—  worshipping  no  other  object  on  this  earth  save   the  one  radient  and  stately 
image,   to  which,   in  Paris,   in  Vienna,   in  Palermo,   the  breath  of   the  people 
has  given  life,  vigor,  and  immortality.    For  any  fate  to  which  this  love  and 
worship  may  impel  me  I  am  not  only   willing  but  ambitious. 

"Mingling  in  the  crowds  that  gathered  round  the  trees  of  liberty,  which 
the  brave  hands  that  built  the  barricades  have  planted,  to  commemorate  the 
virtue,  the  invincibility  of  the  sovereign  people  —  contemplating  those  sim 
ple  ceremonies,  in  which  the  enthusiasm  of  the  most  gifted  and  gallant  na 
tion  in  the  world  displays  itself  so  gently  and  so  grandly  —  turning  from 
these  scenes,  and  looking  upon  the  wounded  of  the  24th  of  February  —  suf 
ferers  over  whose  features  the  consciousness  of  having  played  a  glorious 
part  had  diffused  a  glow  of  health  and  rapture,  and  from  whose  lips  there 
escaped  no  selfish  penitence  for  the  blood  which  their  hearts  had  offered  up 

—  finding  those  sick  beds  resorted  to    by  the  fairest  and  the  highest  in   the 
land,  and  the  sufferers  honored    more    loyally  than  ever  kings  were  honored 

—  following,   then,  the    coffin  of    some    poor    fellow  who  had  died  of  his  sa 
cred   wounds,   and  round  whose  fall    the    golden  cross,   the  bayonet,   and  the 
palm-leaf  glittered— beholding  there,   the  holy  homage  which  a  free  state  is 
eure    to    render    those    whose    blood    has    made  her  free  —  a  witness  of  these 
Bcenes,  I  have  become  reckless  of  that  life,  which   cautious,  legal   men,  grand 
jurors  of  the  city,   special  jurors  of    the  city,   attorney-generals  of    the  Eng 
lish  crown,   solemn  judges   "in  red  cloth  and  whalebone" — men  of  withered 
hearts    and    cunning    brain  —  would    exhort    you  to  preserve,   for  the  sake  of 
peace  and  place  —  the  gold  dust  of  the  crown,   and  all  the  other  perquisites 
of  respectable  and  enlightened  slavery. 

'•I  have  nothing  more  to  say.    I  present  you  with  this  flag." 

(Mr.  Meagher  here  presented  to  the  chairman  a  splendid  flag  surmount' 
ed  by  the  Iriah  pike.  The  material  was  of  the  richest  French  silk,  which 
was  most  gorgeously  trimmed  and  embroidered;  the  colors  were  orange, 
white,  and  green). 

As  the  chairman  took  the  flag  the  whole  company  stood  up  and  cheered 
most  enthusiastically. 

Mr.  Meagher  resumed  — "  From  Paris,  the  gay  and  gallant  city  of  the 
tri-color  and  the  barricade,  this  flag  has  been  proudly  borne.  I  present  it 
to  my  native  land,  and  I  trust  that  the  old  country  will  not  refuse  this 


164  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHEB. 

symbol  of  a  new  life  from  one  of  her  youngest  children.  I  need  not  ex 
plain  its  meaning.  The  quick  and  passionate  intellect  of  the  generation  now 
springing  into  arm  3  will  catch  it  at  a  glance.  The  white  in  the  centre  sig 
nifies  a  lasting  truce  between  the  'Orange'  nnd  the  'Green,'  and  I  trust 
that  beneath  its  folds  the  hands  of  the  Irish  Protestant  and  the  Irish  Catho 
lic  may  be  clasped  in  generous  and  heroic  brotherhood.  If  this  flag  be 
destined  to  fan  the  flame  of  war,  let  England  behold  once  more,  upon  that 
white  centre,  the  RED  HAND  that  struck  her  down  from  the  hills  of  Ul 
ster,  and  I  pray  that  Heaven  may  bless  the  vengeance  it  is  sure  to  kindle." 

JOHN    MITCHEL'S    SPEECH. 

MR.  JOHN  MITCHEL  responded  to  the  toast  of  the  "Persecuted  Patri 
ots,"  in  a  characteristic  speech  —  "plain  as  a  pike-staff."  He  concluded  as 
follows :  — 

"  To  demand  the  independence  which  secures  bread  to  the  Irish  people 
is  what  the  British  law  is  about  to  christen  'felony.'  It  was  a  misdemeam  r 
last  week  —  it  will  be  felony  next  week;  it  was  sedition  —  it  is  now  to  be 
treason.  But  whatever  nickname  they  may  give  it  in  London,  the  nature  of 
the  case  will  not  be  altered,  nor  our  plain  duty  either. 

"I  have  before  stated  in  this  hall  my  views  of  the  policy  which  we 
ought  to  pursue;  and  I  will  continue  to  preach  those  doctrit.es,  felony  or 
no  felony.  So  long  as  I  am  at  large,  and  have  the  use  of  my  tongue  or 
pen,  I  will  simply  go  on  to  preach  to  my  countrymen  that  the  enemy  we 
have  to  deal  with  can  understand  no  arguments  from  you  but  the  points  of 
pikes.  I  will  continue  to  tell  you  that  franchises  are  useless  for  our  pur 
pose,  but  that  fire-arms  are  indispensable  —  that  you  may  safely  neglect  the 
registries,  but  must  in  no  wise  neglect  the  rifles  —  that  you  must  love  and 
cherish  your  arms,  and  prepare  to  use  them,  and  rely  upon  them  alone  for 
the  righting  of  all  your  wrongs. 

"Yes,  in  proportion  as  you  have  procured  arms  and  mastered  their  use, 
just  so  far  have  you  advanced  on  the  road  to  libfrty — and  not  one  inch 
farther.  I  thank  God  that  I  have  seen  the  day  when  this  truth  is  ackowl- 
edged,  and  when  Old  and  Young  Ireland  together  are  preparing  to  act 
upon  it  with  zeal.  Brighter  days  are  coming  to  us:  this  noble  weapon 
glittering  above  us,  this  majestic  banner,  are  of  good  omen  to  us. 

"Ah!  the  gleaming  pike-head  rises  through  our  darkness  like  a  morning 
star.  This  magnificent  Irish  tri-color,  with  its  Orange,  White,  and  Green, 
dawns  upon  us  more  gloriously  than  ever  Sunburst  flashed  over  the  field  of 
Benburb,  or  blazed  through  the  battle-haze  of  Cloutarf.  My  friends,  I  hope 


PL  EPA  RA  TION.  1  Go 


to  see  that  flag  one  day  waving,  as  our  national  banner,  over  a  forest  of 
Irish  pikes;  and  I  conclude  in  the  words  of  one  of  our  dead  patriots,  which 
tolds  a  noble  moral :  — 

"  A  Nation's  Flag !    a  Nation's'  Flag 

If  wickedly  unrolled, 
May  foes  In  adverse  battle  drag 

Its  every  fold  from  fold; 
But,  In  the  cause  of  Liberty, 

Guard  It  'gainst  Earth  and  Hel  — 
Guard  It  till  Death  or  Victory  — 

Look  you  you  guard  it  well 
No  Saint  or  King  haa  tomb  so  proud 
As  he  whose  Flag  becomes  his  shroud." 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

PREPARATION.  —  DISAFFECTED    SOLDIERS  —A    CASTLE-PLOT 

FOILED. 

The  ilfle  brown  and  sabre  bright, 

Can  freely  speak  and  nobly  write.  — DAVIS. 

IMMEDIATELY  after  his  return  from  Paris,  Meagher  set  himself  assidu 
ously  to  the  congenial  task  of  perfecting  the  arming  and  equipping  of  his 
comrades  of  the  Grattau  Club.  He  was  president  of  this  organization,  which 
was  principally  composed  of  educated,  well-to-do  young  men,  who  could 
afford  to  arm  themselves  with  the  most  effective  weapons  attainable.  Accord 
ingly,  while  their  less  prosperous  associates  were  fain  to  rely  on  an  eight- 
foot  pike  to  work  out  their  country's  salvation,  they  resolved  that  when  the 
day  for  action  came,  they  would  be  found  on  an  equality  with  their  enemies, 
and  every  man  be  armed  with  a  serviceable  rifle  and  its  accompanying 
equipments. 

To  such  members  of  the  club  as  could  not  afford  the  cost  of  this  out 
fit,  .Mtagher  supplied  the  requisite  articles  out  of  his  private  resources. 
I  learned  this  fact  from  Thomas  Deviu  Reilly,  under  the  following  circum 
stances. 

Mr.  Reilly,  having  learned  that  my  two  comrades,  Bob.  Ward  and  Dan, 
Magrath,  were  saddlers,  engaged  them  to  manufacture  belts  and  cartridge- 


166  MEMOIES  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

boxes,  from  patterns  of  the  regulation  kind  which  he  supplied.  The  articles,  as 
they  were  finished,  were  stored  at  Reilly's  residence,  "Mosipher  Lodge,''  near 
Eathmines,  until  called  for  by  those  for  whose  use  they  were  ultimately 
intended.  It  was  on  the  occasion  of  one  of  my  visits  to  his  home  that,  in 
the  course  of  conversation,  he  informed  me  of  Meagher's  generous  patriot 
ism  in  thus  coming  to  the  assistance  of  the  brave  fellows  whom  he  felt 
confident  of  soon  leading  to  battle  for  Irish  freedom.  The  act  was  wise  as 
well  as  generous,  and  though  Mr.  Reilly's  revelation  of  the  secret  enhanced 
my  admiration  for  his  friend,  I  was  prepared  for  any  act  of  self-sacrifice 
by  the  latter;  for  Meagher  was  not  one  to  set  bounds  to  his  patriotism, 
or  to  economize  his  property  in  a  cause  to  which  he  had  devoted  his 
life. 

DISAFFECTED  IRISH  SOLDIERS. 

But,  while  Mitchel's  matter-of-fact  arguments  in  favor  of  a  revival  of 
the  Irish  hardware  manufacture,  had  set  scores  of  anvils  ringing  in  the 
dingy  lanes  of  Dublin;  while  Duffy  and  O'Brien  were  preparing  the  public 
miud  for  the  organization  of  an  "Irish  National  Guard;"  while  Reilly  and 
Meagher  were  quietly  and  efficiently  equipping  their  patriotic  battalions  at 
home,  and  O'Gorman  and  his  asssociate  deputies  studying  French  exercises 
in  Paris;  while  the  "Students"  were  founding  an  Ecole  Polytechnique,  and 
crowding  the  shooting-galleries  nightly  for  practical  experiments  in  the  sci 
ence  of  gunnery,  and  while,  here  and  there,  in  lofts  and  cellars,  some  am 
bitious  club-men  risked  transportation  to  learn  the  rudiments  of  military 
instruction  under  the  tutelage  of  a  discharged  soldier,  or  deserter;  'not  one 
of  them  all  thought  of  turning  to  praccical  purposes  the  spirit  of  disaffection 
which  notoriously  permeated  the  hearts  of  their  countrymen  in  the  English 
army,  and  which  was  almost  daily  manifested  in  the  garrison  of  Dublin  — 
as  well  as  in  those  of  the  provincial  towns,  from  Cork  to  Belfast,  —  in 
ways  that  could  not  be  misunderstood. 

It  was  a  most  unaccountable  oversight  on  the  part  of  men  bent  on 
"Revolution,"  to  neglect  such  an  opportunity  of  strengthening  the  national 
forces,  and  demoralizing  those  of  the  enemy. 

From  circumstances  which  came  to  my  own  knowledge  at  the  time,  I 
am  of  the  opinion  that,  had  a  well-arranged  plan  of  organization  been  put 
in  operation  in  the  spring  of  1848,  among  the  Irish  soldiers  then  in  Dublin, 
at  least  one-third  of  the  garrison,  (or  five  thousand  men,)  could  be  secured 
for  the  cause  of  Fatherland  and  Liberty.  This  was  the  estimate  of  some  of 
the  soldiers  themselves,  based  on  their  knowledge  of  the  number  of  Irish- 


DISAFFECTED   IHISH  SOLDIERS.  107 

m  M  in  every  pepnrnte  regiment  in  the  city,  and  of  the  general  feeling 
prevalent  among  them. 

Thus  in  the  Royal  Barracks  were  the  75th  and  the  85th  Regiments  of 
Infantry ;  numerically  these  were  the  strongest  in  Dublin  —  the  former  mus 
tering  seven  hundred  and  fifty  and  the  latter  six  hundred  and  fifty  men. 
In  the  75th  were  three  hundred  and  fifty  Irishmen,  and  in  the  85th  three 
hundred.  Of  these  more  than  five  hundred  were  calculated  on  to  take  sides 
with  the  people  in  the  event  of  an  insurrection  commencing  in  the  national 
capital. 

Again,  in  the  Pigeon-House  Fort  were  a  little  over  two  hundred  men, 
of  whom  but  about  fifty  were  Irishmen.  In  pointing  out  the  strength  of 
the  place,  —  (situated  at  the  extremity  of  a  long  causeway  running  into  the 
harbor,)  —  one  of  the  garrison  showed  that,  '•  while  five  thousand  assailants 
from  without  could  not  take  it  —  if  unprovided  with  heavy  artillery,  —  a  com 
parative  few  from  icithin,  could  spike  the  guns,  and  throw  open  the  gate 
to  a  well-conducted  uight  attack."  It  was  thoughtful,  calculating  soldiers 
like  this  class  that  were  to  be  dreaded  by  the  government,  for  they  were 
likely  to  prove  far  more  dangerous  than  their  excitable,  unreflective  coun 
trymen  —  who  gave  vent  to  their  patriotic  feelings  in  "  cheers  for  Repeal," 
or  in  bloody  encounters  in  street  or  tavern,  with  their  red-coated  Saxon 
antagonists. 

Of  course,  no  organization  for  revolutionary  purposes  could  be  attempted 
in  the  army  —  unless  it  was  strictly  secret  in  its  nature.  But,  in  those  days, 
Irish  leaders  —  moderates  and  extremists  alike  —  as  if  by  common  understand 
ing  (or  universal  infatuation,)  seemed  to  entertain  repugnance  to  having 
recourse  to  any  organization  of  a  secret  tendency.  Hence  it  followed  as  a 
natural  consequence,  that  the  meetings  of  the  Confederate  clubs,  and  even 
those  of  the  Council  of  the  Confederation,  were  left  unguarded  against  the 
treachery  of  government  spies  —  who  regularly  reported  their  proceedings  to 
the  Castle. 

It  might  be  thought,  that,  —  when  the  leaders  were  pointing  out  the 
glorious  achievements  of  the  revolutionists  in  the  continental  cities, —  as  ex 
amples  to  be  emulated  by  their  compatriots  in  Dublin  —  they  might  ha/e 
reflected  on  the  well-known  fact,  that  in  every  instance,  the  success  of  the 
continental  Revolutionists  was  d'ue  —  not  to  the  unpremeditated  uprising  of 
an  exasperated  populace,  but  to  the  men  who,  for  years,  were  preparing  in 
secret  for  such  a  contingency,  and  were  ready  to  avail  themselves  of  it 
promptly  when  it  at  last  arrived. 

Any  student  of  French    history,   from   the  Revolution  of    1830  to  that  of 


16*  MEM01ES  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEB. 

1S4S,  could  see  that,  during  those  eighteen  years,  the  secret  revolutionary 
societies  of  Paris  were  incessantly  engaged  in  plo:ting  how  to  undo  the 
blu.ider  that  made  Louis  Philippe  king  —  and  so  cheated  the  nation  out  of 
the  liberty  bought  by  the  blood  of  her  best  and  bravest.  They  made  many 
futile  attempts  —  but  their  day  of  triumph  came. 

A  CASTLE  PLOT  FOILED. 

But,  though  the  Confederate  leaders  —  by  preaching  and  practice  —  repu 
diated  secret  methods  of  attaining  their  ends,  their  antagonists  were  not  so 
scrupulous.  With  them — "the  end  justified  the  means."  On  that  principle 
the  agents  of  British  rule  in  Ireland  had  acted  from  Strongbow  to  Clar 
endon.  The  latter  had  good  cause  for  alarm,  in  the  rapidity  with  which 
the  citizens  of  Dublin,  —  in  the  absence  of  any  prohibitory  law,  —  were  arm 
ing; 'and,  although  the  bill  then  before  parliament,  would,  in  a  few  days, 
give  them  the  requisite  power  to  deal  with  the  subject  "legally  and  consti 
tutionally,"  he  resolved  to  anticipate  its  passage,  —  and  the  possible  action  of 
the  Revolutionists,  —  by  a  stroke  of  policy  that,  if  successfully  accomplished, 
would  give  him  a  place  in  history  beside  Cromwell. 

His  plan  contemplated  a  sudden  and  simultaneous  raid  on  the  homes  of 
every  known  club-man  in  Dublin,  and  the  seizure  of  all  arms  found  therein. 

It  was  a  bold  conception  to  emanate  from  the  brain  of  a  statesman 
whose  genius  was  heretofore  supposed  to  be  mainly  devoted  to  the  cultiva 
tion  of  "  prize  cabbages  and  other  green  crops."  Had  the  attempt  been 
made  to  put  it  in  execution  according  to  the  original  programme,  it  might 
have  been  partially  successful  —  after  some  isolated  attempts  at  resistance; 
or,  on  the  other  hand,  it  might  have  precipitated  a  general  uprising  in  the 
capital. 

The  following  history  of  this  plot,  and  the  causes  which  led  to  its 
failure  in  embryo,  is  now,  for  the  first  time  made  public. 

JAMES  MURPHY,  a  native  of  Tallow,  county  of  Waterford,  was  one  of  the 
Dublin  garrison,  who,  in  1848,  was  more  loyal  to  his  country  than  to  his 
Queen.  I  first  met  him  while  walking  with  my  comrade  Dan.  Magrath,  one 
evening  by  Beggar's  Bush  Barracks.  On  our  exchanging  a  passing  saluta 
tion,  the  similarity  of  our  accent  to  his  own,  led  the  soldier  to  remark  — 

"Boys,  ye  must  be  from  near  the  same  part  of  Munster  as  myself  —  I 
was  born  in  Tallow  —  ("  Cush  na-Brigde !  ") 

We  told  him  our  birth-place  was  within  seven  miles  of  his  —  namely, 
Cappoquin.  It  did  not  take  long  till  we  found  our  political  sentiments  were 
as  n'uch  alike  as  our  "brogue,"  and  thenceforward  we  met  often  —  at  our 


A    CASTLE  PLOT  FOILED.  1G9 

lodgings,   or    in    the    Phoenix    Park    (near  which  Murphy's  regiment  was  sta 
tioned—in  the  Royal  Barracks). 

From  him  we  learned  much  interesting  information  concerning  the  state 
of  the  political  feeling  among  the  Irish  soldiers  in  Dublin ;  who,  in  the 
absence  of  any  help  at  organization  from  without,  had  been  at  work  quietly 
among  themselves  —  making  calculations  of  their  reliable  lorces  in  view  of 
certain  hoped-for  eventualities. 

In  the  early  part  of  May  Murphy  came  one  afternoon  to  our  lodgings 
with  the  information,  which  he  had  just  received,  through  his  sergeant,  that 
a  general  search  for  arms  was  to  be  made  throughout  Dublin,  on  a  night 
close  at  hand,  but  not  yet  named.  A  detail  of  soldiers  had  been  ordered 
from  every  regiment  in  Dublin,  whose  duty  would  be  to  take  positions  at 
designated  street-crossings,  and  prevent  all  ingress  or  egress,  to  or  from  the 
blockaded  quarter  —  while  the  police  were  to  search  the  suspected  houses 
and  capture  all  arms  found  therein.  He  addel  that  himself  was  to  be  one 
of  those  detailed  from  the  Royal  Barracks,  and  that  — if  it  was  decided  to 
make  a  fight  on  the  occasion  —  the  guns  commanding  the  barrack-gate  would 
be  "  spiked "  before  they  left  the  yard. 

He  brought  me  the  information  that  I  might  convey  it  to  the  proper 
quarter,  and  such  measures  be  taken  as  would  be  deemed  advisable  under 
the  circumstances. 

After  arranging  to  meet  my  informant  on  the  next  evening  in  the  Park, 
I  hastened  to  the  Nation  office  to  communicate  the  news  to  Mr.  Duffy,  in 
the  first  place.  Not  finding  him  in,  I  went  to  the  office  of  the  United 
Irishman  to  see  either  Mr.  Mitchel  or  Mr.  Reilly;  but  both  had  left  for  the 
former's  home  in  Rathmines,  a  short  time  previously.  Thither  I  followed, 
and  found  them  at  dinner.  Mr.  Reilly  came  out,  and  on  my  giving  him  the 
information  he  beckoned  to  Mitchel,  to  whom  I  repeated  the  story,  and 
asked  —  "what  was  to  be  done?" 

After  pondering  over  it  for  a  few  minutes,  he  advised  that  the  clu'  s 
ihould  be  informed  of  the  contemplated  raid  without  delay,  with  the  advice 
from  him  to  take  such  steps  as  they  liked  best  in  the  matter,  —  either  to 
place  their  arms  in  security,  or  use  them  on  the  raiders.  He  expressed  the 
opinion  that,  when  the  projectors  of  the  plot  found,  through  their  spies, 
that  the  clubs  were  apprized  of  it  —  they  would  abandon  it  altogether,  ra 
ther  than  risk  a  failure  —  or  fight. 

The  result  showed  the  correctness  of  Mr.  Mitchel's  surmise;  for  whon 
I  communicated  the  information  —  with  his  instructions  —  to  the  committee  of 
the  Swift  Club,  (omitting,  of  course,  the  source  from  which  I  derived  the 
news,)  and  it  was  announced  to  the  assembled  members,  a  party  whom  I 


«u  &EMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

did  not  know,  doubtingly,  asked  —  who  told  me?  I  replied  that  "he  had 
all  that  was  necessary  he  should  know  on  the  subject;  that  I  believed  my 
informant,  and  that  it  was  for  the  club  to  act  as  they  thought  fit  in  the 
matter." 

I  believe  my  interlocutor  was  a  Castle  spy,  who,  unconsciously,  served 
the  cause  he  was  hired  to  betray,  by  conveying  the  discovery  of  the  plot 
to  its  concoctors.  At  all  events,  there  was  no  raid;  and  most  of  the  armi 
were  concealed  for  a  time. 


CHAPTER   XXX. 

BY  THE  SHANNON  AND  THE  SUIR. 

In  tempting  wealth  and  trying  woe, 

In  struggling  with  a  mob's  dictation; 
In  bearing  back  a  foreign  foe, 

In  training  up  a  troubled  nation: 
Still  hold  to  Truth,  abound  in  Love, 

Refusing  every  bate  compliance  — 
Your  Praise  within,  your  Prize  above, 

And  live  and  die  In  SELF-RELIANCE.— DAVIS. 

IN  all  probability  Clarendon's  idea  of  a  midnight  raid  on  the  Dublin 
Confederates  was  stimulated  by  a  disgraceful  occurrence  which  transpired  in 
the  city  of  Limerick  towards  the  close  of  April. 

On  the  29th  of  that  month,  a  soiree  in  honor  of  the  "Prosecuted  Pa 
triots"  was  given  by  the  Limerick  Sarsfield  Club.  O'Brien,  Mitchel  and 
Meagher  —  the  guests  of  the  occasion  —  attended.  During  the  progress  of 
the  festivities,  a  mob,  said  to  be  composed  of  "Old  Irelanders,"  collected 
outside  the  building,  and  broke  the  windows  with  stones.  O'Brien,  who 
went  to  the  door  to  remonstrate  with  the  assailants,  was  struck  in  the  face 
by  one  of  the  missiles  before  he  was  recognized  by  the  misguided  dupes 
of  whatever  sneaking  rascal  incited  them  to  their  murderous  mission.  When 
they  saw  who  the  victim  was,  they  were  loud  and  vehement  in  their  pro 
testations  of  sorrow,  declaring  that  they  meditated  no  injury  to  him.  They 
selected  an  escort  of  twenty  to  accom-pany  him  to  his  house  —  whither  he 
retired  from  the  soiree 


BY  THE  SHANNON  AND    THE  SUIR.  171 

Who  the  inciter  of  this  outrage  was,  was  never  positively  known  to  the 
public  —  the  party  most  strongly  suspected  having  vehemently  denied  any 
connection  with  it,  in  a  letter  written  immediately  after  the  occurrence. 

When  the  news  of  O'Brien's  reception  among  his  constituents  reached 
London,  the  press  was  jubilant  over  the  event,  and  declared  that  Euglaud's 
opportunity  had  arrived.  From  this,  most  probably,  it  was,  that  tha  Satrap 
of  Dublin  Castle  took  his  cue.  But  he  lacked  the  resolution  to  play  the 
part  of  the  midnight  burglar  —  that  of  the  jury-packer  being  more  congenial 
to  his  taste  —  as  being  safer. 

In  the  meantime  O'Brien  was  waited  upon  by  the  citizens  of  Limerick 
of  all  parties,  who  expressed  their  sympathy  and  respect,  and  when  leaving 
the  city  on  his  return  to  Dublin,  he  was  followed  by  the  cheers  and  bles 
sings  of  the  populace.  During  the  ensuing  fortnight  addresses  from  all  parts 
of  Ireland  kept  pouring  in  upon  him,  and  served  to  compensate  him  for  the 
malevolence  of  his  English  revilers. 

The  visit  to  Limerick  was  intended  to  be  the  first  .of  a  series  which 
O'Brien  and  Meagher  contemplated  making  through  the  cities  and  towns  of 
the  South,  for  the  better  oganization  of  the  national  forces  therein.  Their 
programme  was  subsequently  modified,  so  that,  while  Mr.  O'Brien  remained 
in  Dublin,  pending  his  trial  for  sedition,  Charles  Gavan  Duffy  accompanied 
Meagher  on  his  tour  of  inspection  to  his  native  "Valley  of  the  Suir."  The 
citizens  of  Waterford  had  arranged  to  give  an  entertainment  in  honor  of  the 
"Prosecuted  Patriots"  on  the  evening  of  Sunday,  May  7th,  and,  at  an  early 
hour  of  the  morning  of  that  day,  every  vehicle  attainable  in  the  city  was 
in  requisition  to  convey  the  enthusiastic  nationalists  up  to  Carrick  —  where 
they  expected  to  meet  the  patriot  leaders,  and  escort  them  thence  to  Water- 
ford.  Messrs.  Meagher  and  Duffy  arrived  in  Carrick  about  11  A.  M.,  and  pro 
ceeded  to  Mass,  after  which  they  went  to  the  hotel,  where  an  address  was 
presented  to  them  by  the  Rev.  Patrick  Byrne,  C.  C.* 


•For  many  years  past,  Vicar-General  and   Parish  Priest  of  Llsmore. 

FATHER  BYRNE  was  then  one  of  the  most  popular  young  priests  in  Ire 
land.  A  fortnight  before  this  meeting  in  Carrick.  he  addressed  the  follow 
ing  spirited  letter  to  the  editor  of  the  Dublin  Evening  I'vst: 

"  CARRICK-ON-SUIR,  April  21st,  1848. 

"  Sin,  —  Allow  me,  through  your  journal  —  which  so  richly  deserves  the 
gratitude  of  the  'paternal  government'  —  to  say,  in  reply  to  Lord  John 
Russell's  menace  of  opposition  till  death  to  the  Repeal  of  the  Legislative 


172  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANCIS  HE  AGREE. 

From  the  windows  of  the  hotel  both  gentlemen  addressed  an  immense 
concourse  of  people,  whom  the  news  of  their  coming  had  attracted  from 
both  sides  of  the  Suir  —  from  the  slopes  of  Sliabh-na-Mon  on  the  Tipperary 
side  — and  the  valleys  of  the  Commerahs  on  that  of  Waterlord.  .From  end 
to  end  of  the  Island,  no  better  fighting  material  could  be  found  than  was 
in  Carrick  on  that  day;  and  amongst  them  all,  townsmen,  or  peasants, 
Meagher  had  no  more  resolute  or  devoted  adherents  than  his  recent  elec 
tioneering  opponents  —  the  indomitable  "Carrick  Boatmen." 

The  route  from  Carrick  to  Waterford  was  over  the  bridge  to  Carrick- 
Beg,  and  thence  by  the  "Waterford  side  of  the  Suir,  through  Portlaw.  It 
was  a  continuous  triumphal  march  —  every  mile  of  which  swelled  the  cheer 
ing  escort.  At  Portlaw  the  enthusiasm  was  indescribable;  there  the  demon 
stration  of  the  country-people  attained  its  greatest  strength,  the  place  being 
about  equi-distaut  from  Carrick  and  Waterford. 

Half  way  between  Portlaw  and  the  city,  the  procession  was  met  by  the 
congregated  trades  of  Waterford  with  their  bands  and  banners,  and  for  the 


Union,  that,  whether  he  will  or  not,  we  must  and  shall  have  an  indepen 
dent  legislature.  And  I  beg  leave,  through  you,  to  give  him  the  reason;  a 
convincing  one  you  will  admit. 

"The  priests  of  Ireland  are  determined  to  stand  by  and  with  the  people, 
come  what  may;  and  should  the  insane  Whig  policy  drive  them  to  the 
adoption  of  those  means  which  the  Milanese  so  successfully  tried,  like  their 
sainted  and  glorious  Archbishop,  the  Irish  priest  shall  be  found  amid  the 
fight,  invoking  heaven's  blessing  upon  it.  May  God  avert  such  a  crisis ! 
But  should  it  come,  may  the  wrongs  of  seven  centuries  nerve  the  arm  of 
every  Irishman.  'Tis  better  to  have  the  truth  plainly  told  to  the  English 
Government,  that  they  may  be  wise  in  time,  and  grant  that  which  alone 
can  satisfy  the  Irish  nation,  and  continue  her  one  of  the  brightest  gems  in 
Victoria's  crown. 

"  Allow  me,  also,  through  you,  to  inform  the  Premier  that  on  yesterday 
was  held  a  meeting  of  the  priests  of  the  dioceses  (Waterford  and  Lismore,) 
presided  over  by  our  revered  bishop.  An  address,  praying  her  Majesty  to 
grant  the  Repeal,  was  unanimously  adopted.  In  the  excellent  speech  of  his 
lordship,  we  were  exhorted  to  go  with  the  people  in  everything  their  good 
would  demand,  without  a  violation  of  the  precepts  of  our  holy  religion  — 
a  counsel  we'll  cheerfully  follow. 

"I  have  the  honor  to   remain,  your  obedient  servant, 

"P.  BYRNE,  R.  C.  C." 


BY  THE  SHANNON  AND    THE  SUIE.  173 

remaining  four  miles,  the  road  was  covered  by  a  dense  moving  mass  —  con 
stituting  a  veritable  "  Monster  Meeting,"  the  like  of  which  had  not  assem 
bled  in  Waterford  since  that  of  June,  1843. 

The  united  procession  entered  the  city  by  the  old  Cork  mail-coach  road, 
down  the  Yellow  Road,  Summer-Hill,  Bridge  street,  and  along  the  Quay. 
On  passing  that  part  of  the  Quay  opposite  which  Her  Majesty's  ship-of-war 
"  Dragon "  was  moored,  Meagher  caused  the  procession  to  halt,  and  said 
that  he  "  would  select  that  place  whence  to  remind  his  hearers  that  their 
country  was  not  in  their  own  hands  —  that  it  was  held  by  force,"  and  he 
concluded  by  calling  for  "Three  cheers  for  the  Green  above  the  Red" — to 
send  it  home  to  the  government,  as  he  knew  they  would  hear  of  it. 

The  soirte,  which  was  given  in  the  Town  Hall,  that  evening,  was 
attended  by  over  five  hundred  of  the  most  distinguished  (and  now  UNITED) 
Repealers  of  the  city,  including  several  Catholic  clergymen  from  the  city 
and  the  adjoining  parishes.  Of  these  latter  gentlemen,  the  one  who  spoke 
most  enthusiastically  of  all  the  orators  of  the  evening,  was  Mr.  Costello's 
seconder  at  the  Waterford  election,  and  Meagher's  most  aggressive  opponent 
—  on  that  occasion.  His  adhesion  to  the  extreme  national  party  in  this  crisis 
of  his  country's  destiny,  testified  to  the  sincerity  of  his  convictions,  and 
afforded  one  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  of  the  great  changes  which 
current  events  were  producing  in  the  minds  of  even  the  most  prejudiced 
men  of  his  class. 

Mr.  Meagher  and  Mr.  Duffy  addressed  the  meeting  in  stirring  speeches. 
Both  dwelt  particularly  on  the  urgent  necessity  of  the  people  procuring 
arms  at  once.  Their  remarks  were  carefully  noted  by  two  government 
reporters  specially  detailed  for  that  purpose. 

On  the  day  following  the  Waterford  demonstration,  Messrs.  Meagher  and 
Duffy  attended  a  meeting  of  the  United  Repealers  of  Kilkenny  and  were 
most  warmly  received.  Here  also,  both  gentlemen  forcibly  dwelt  on  the 
paramount  duty  of  every  true  man  arming,  so  as  to  be  prepared  for  any 
contingency.  From  Kilkenny  they  returned  to  Dublin,  in  which  city  th« 
trials  of  O'Brien  and  Meagher  for  sedition  were  set  down  for  the  beginning 
of  the  ensuing  week. 


174  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHER, 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

AEHEST    OF    JOHN  MITCHEL    FOR    TREASON-FELONY.  —  COMMENCE 
MENT   OF  SMITH  O'BRIEN'S  TRIAL.  —  SCENES 
IN  DUBLIN. 

le  who  despoil  the  BODS  of  toll  saw  ye  this  sight  to-day, 
"When   stalwart  trade  In  long  brigade  beyond  a  king's  array, 
Marched  In  the  blessed   light  of  heaven,  beneath  the  open  sky? 
Strong  In  the  might  of  SACRED  BIGHT,  that  none  dare  ask  them  why. 

C.  G.   DOFFT. 

Monday,  May  15th,  was  the  day  appointed  for  the  trial  01  ..illiara 
Smith  O'Brien.  The  people  looked  forward  ro  it  with  keen  interest,  but 
without  any  manifestation  of  excitement,  for  they  felt  that  unless  the  jury 
was  notoriously  packed,  it  would  not -return  a  verdict  for  the  Government. 
—  and  a  disagreement  would  be  tantamount  to  an  acquitial  in  its  effect  on 
the  popular  cause. 

This  equanimity  was,  however,  suddenly  dispelled,  and  the  popular  heart 
roused  to  excitement  when,  on  Saturday  evening,  the  report  that  John 
Mitchel  was  arrested  and  lodged  hi  Newgate,  spread  simultaneously  all  over 
the  city. 

As  the  Treason-Felony  Act  had  been  specially  framed  for  John  Mitchol's 
destruction,  his  arrest  had  been  anticipated  at  any  moment  since  the  Queen's 
signature  had  been  affixed  to  the  bill.  Still,  now  that  the  expected  blow 
had  fallen,  its  effect  was  not  the  less  acutely  felt. 

Newgate  was  the  "  Bastile "  of  Dublin,  and  a  presentment,  akin  to  con 
viction,  was  felt  by  many  of  Mitchel's  most  earnest  disciples,  that,  if  he 
was  to  come  forth  a  free  man  from  its  gloomy,  murder-stained  precincts, 
the .  accursed  pile  should  first  share  the  fate  of  its  Parisian  prototype.  Ani 
mated  by  this  feeling,  they,  on  that  night,  removed  their  arms  from  the 
secret  receptacles  in  which  they  were  so  recently  stored,  and,  before  mor 
ning  they  had  their  newly-burnished  pikes  mounted,  and  all  other  requisite 
preparations  made  to  respond  promptly  when  the  eagerly-expected  "  WORD  " 
was  passed. 

What  manner  of  men   these  Confederates   were,  may  be   learned   from  the 


TEE  MUSTER   OF  THE   CLUBS.  176 

following  impartial  account  of  their  public  appearance  —  as  an  escort  to   the 
*4  Prosecuted  Patriots,"  —  given  by  the  papers  of  the  day :  — 

THE    MUSTER    OF    THE  CLUBS. 

MONDAY,  MAY  15xn,  1848. 

(From  the  Freeman.} 

"This  day  being  appointed  for  the  trial  of  William  Smith  O'Brien,  the 
city  was  astir  from  an  early  hour.  The  fact  of  Mr.  Mitchel's  unexpected 
arrest  tended  much  to  quicken  the  excitement  which  filled  the  trading  com 
munity,  at  least,  of  this  metropolis. 

"  From  an  early  hour  the  club-rooms,  from  which  it  had  been  resolved 
to  send  members  to  attend  the  prosecuted  gentlemen  to  the  courts,  were 
filled  with  eager  occupants.  As  we  passed  through  the  leading  streets,  we 
could  not  help  remarking,  by  his  staid  gait  and  respectable  appearance,  every 
individual  member,  however  isolated,  wending  his  way  to  the  trysting-place. 

"As  the  clubs  formed  in  their  respective  rooms,  they  marched  three 
abreast,  in  military  style,  keeping  the  step  with  remarkable  accuracy.  The 
centre  of  meeting  was  Westland  Row.  Here,  in  Mr.  Murphy's,  next  to  Gil 
bert's  Hotel,  were  Messrs.  Smith  O'Brien  and  T.  F.  Meagher,  (the  latter  of 
whom  had  previously  arrived  at  the  head  of  the  Swift  Club).  As  each  club 
defiled  before  the  house,  the  cheering  was  of  the  most  enthusiastic  nature. 

"  When  the  heads  of  the  columns  had  formed,  the  members  made  a 
detour,  and  fell  into  close  file,  passing  along  Westland  Low  up  to  Lower 
Merrion  street,  which  presented  a  better  notion  than  we  had  hitherto  pos 
sessed  of  the  great  strength  and  respectability  of  those  who  composed  the 
clubs. 

"Sixteen  clubs  in  all,  (of  which  we  we  were  only  able  to  take  a  rapid 
sketch,)  under,  early  as  it  was,  a  scorching  sun,  defiled  before  the  lodgings 
of  Mr.  O'Brien,  in  Westland  Row. 

"It  being  now  a  quarter  to  ten  o'clock,  the  procession  formed.  The 
Davis  Club  was  the  first  to  arrive  on  the  ground.  It  was  headed  by  Thomas 
D'Arcy  M'Gee,  and  counted  about  five  hundred  fine  young  men,  evidently 
respectable. 

"K  may  be  well  here  to  observe  of  all  clubs,  comprising  at  a  fair  calcula 
tion  at  least  ten  thousand  persons,  there  did  not  appear  present  one  who, 
hi  point  of  correct  and  manly  bearing,  as  well  as  respectability  of  exterior, 
would  not  present  to  the  stranger  a  creditable  specimen  of  the  young  men 
of  our  city;  in  fact,  to  quote  the  words  of  an  intelligent  Englishman,  who 


176  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

was  an  anxious  and  deeply  interested  spectator  of  the  procession,  'This  was 
no  Irish  rabble.'  Each  and  every  man  forming  that  immense  escort  looked 
and  acted  as  if  impressed  with  the  seriousness  of  the  duty  he  came  to  per 
form,  and  conscious  of  an  individual  responsibility  in  upholding  his  dignity 
as  an  Irish  citizen. 

"Xext  followed  the  Swift  Club,  numbering  six  hundred  and  twenty 
members,  headed  by  Richard  O'Gorman,  Esq.,  Jun.  This  club  walked,  as 
did  the  preceding  club,  three  abreast,  and  drew  up  in  front  of  the  path 
way,  occupying  part  of  Leinster  street  and  Lower  Merrion  street. 

"The  Grattan  Club  next  approached,  headed  by  T.  F.  Meagher;  its  num 
bers  were  considerably  augmented  by  the  coalition  of  another  club,  and  it 
could  not  have  numbered  less  than  eight  hundred  members. 

"  The  St.  Patrick's  Club  approached  next,  headed,  in  the  absence  of  its 
president  (Mr.  Joha  Mitchel,)  by  his  brother,  W.  H.  Mitchel,  Esq. 

"The  Doctor  Doyle  Club  was  next,   led  by  Mr.  Halpin  and  Mr.  Watson. 

"The  Curran  Club,   headed    by  J.   B.   Dillon,   Esq. 

"  These  bodies  numbered  from  four  hundred  to  five  hundred,  respectively 
—  a  splendid  body  of  young  men. 

"The  Student's  Club,  with  which  was  associated  the  Mercantile  Assist 
ants'  Club,  followed,  headed  by  R.  D.  Williams,  Esq.,  and  Kevin  I.  O'Do- 
herty,  Esq. 

"  The  Fitzgerald  Club,  from  Harold's-cross,  a  new  club,  numbering  about 
one  hundred  men. 

"  Then  followed  the  Hamilton  Kowen  Club,  the  Clonskeagh,  the  Wil- 
liamstown,  and  other  new  clubs  —  forming  in  all  as  fine  a  body  of  young 
men,  of  as  manly  bearring  and  respectable  appearance,  as  were  ever  seen 
met  to  vindicate  the  justice  of  any  cause,  or  to  celebrate  its  triumph. 

"  The  Eauelagh,  Saudymount,  Irishtown,  and  Sheare's  Clubs,  all  new 
clubs,  arriving  late,  had  to  fall  in  with  some  of  the  older  clubs.  Altogether 
there  were  sixteen  clubs. 

"Along  Great  Brunswick  street,  through  which  the  clubs  marched  to 
their  rendezvous,  along  Westland  Row,  (where  Mr.  Smith  O'Brien  resides,) 
through  Upper  and  Lower  Merrion  streets  and  Leiuster  street,  the  trottoir, 
and  even  the  midway  were  densely  crowded  with  people ;  groups  were 
crowded  at  every  window  —  every  balcony  and  standing-place  had  its  space 
iilled  with  anxious  spectators.  From  an  early  hour  in  the  morning  the 
[odgings  of  Mr.  Smith  O'Brien  were  crowded  with  numbers  of  his  friends, 
i/vho  called  to  present  him  with  assurances  of  their  regard  and  sympathy. 

"When  Mr.   O'Brien,   accompanied    by  Mr.  Meagher   and    several  of  their 


THE  MUSTEK   OF  THE   CLUBS.  177 

friends  appeared  on  the  street,   word  was  passed  to  the  head  of  the  procea- 
;n,   and  the  leading  files  were  put  in   motion,   proceeding  up 

NASSAU  STREET. 

"  Here  the  scene  presented  a  most  imposing  aspect.  From  the  narrow- 
ess  of  the  street,  the  procession  and  the  crowds  accompanying  it  filled 
pu  the  entire  way.  The  windows  and  balconies  of  the  houses  were  filledt 
with  ladies,  who  responded  to  the  hearty  cheers  from  below  by  waving 
handkerchiefs,  &c.  The  railings  of  the  College  park  —  up  which  numbers 
had  climbed  —  afforded  a  view  of  the  procession  as  it  passed. 

"  As  the  head  of  the  procession  turned  into  Graf  ton  street,  additional 
crowds  joined  it  from  the  various  neighboring  localities ;  and  numerous  as 
he  assemblage  was  before,  it  appeared  nearly  doubled  at  this  point  —  the 
doors  and  windows  of  the  houses  presenting  the  same  exhilirating  demon 
strations  from  groups  of  the  fair  sex,  crowded  at  every  point  where  a  view 
could  be  obtained.  The  crowd  became  still  more  dense  as  the  cortege  ap 
proached 

COLLEGE  GREEN. 

"This  was,  perhaps,  one  of  the  most  interesting  phases  in  the  entire 
procession.  Whilst  the  attendant  crowd,  and  the  occupants  of  the  windows 
and  balconies,  cheered  loudly  as  the  procession  passed  the  Irish  House  of 
Parliament,  the  members  of  the  clubs  evinced  no  outward  signs  of  the  feel 
ings  of  deep  love  and  hope  which  the  sight  of  their  senate-house  caused  to 
burn  within  them,  save  by  uncovering  as  they  passed.  No  ebulition  of 
party  spirit  was  manifested  as  the  procession  defiled  past  the  statue  of 
King  William  —  not  a  sneer  nor  a  groan  —  no  hooting  —  no  yelling;  and  save 
when  a  cheer  was  raised  now  and  then  as  new  accessions  were  added  to 
the  procession,  nothing  was  heard  but  the  tramp  onward  in  measured  time 
of  men,  whose  bearing  and  appearance  would  be  a  credit  to  the  metropolis 
of  any  nation.  It  would  be  but  to  repeat  what  we  have  already  stated, 
were  we  to  describe  the  scene  as  the  illustrious  accused  and  his  escor 
passed  onward  through  Dame  street. 

"  We  may  observe  that  he  walked  with  the  Eev.  Mr.  Meehan,  Mr.  Comyn 
of  Woodstock,  Joseph  Henry  Dunne,  and  Sir  Simon  Bradstreet.  The  other 
gentlemen  of  the  committee  of  the  Loyal  National  Repeal  Association  and 
the  Confederation  Council  followed  in  order.  The  clubs,  as  we  have  stated, 
were  headed  by  their  presidents  respectively. 

THE  QUAYS  AND  BRIDGES. 
"  On  arriving  at  Essex  Bridge,  and  looking  backwrad  the  coupdoeil  was  z'm 


178  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

posing  in  the  extreme.  The  Royal  Exchange,  with  its  dark  columns,  formed 
the  background  of  a  vista  through  which  moved  one  dense  tide  of  human 
beiugs,  the  effect  being  rendered  still  more  impressive  by  the  silence  which 
pervaded  the  immense  multitude.  The  balustrades  and  lamp-irons  on  the 
bridges  were  mounted  by  clusters  of  spectators.  The  windows  of  the  ware 
houses  and  private  residences  at  this  point  presented  an  unusually  gay  spec 
tacle,  and  as  the  procession  passed  the  bridge,  and  wheeled  round  the  quay 
towards  the  courts,  one  mighty  cheer  burst  forth,  which  was  taken  up  and 
re-echoed  to  the  very  gates  of  the  Four  Courts,  announcing  to  those  inside 
awaiting  the  commencement  of  the  proceedings  the  arrival  of  Smith  O'Brien 
to  take  his  trial  before  a  jury  of  his  countrymen  for  sedition.  As  the  pro 
cession  approached  the  gates,  the  leading  files  passed  on  and  formed  in  line 
along  the  pathway  at  the  river  side,  the  rear  falling  into  two  lines,  through 
which  Mr.  O'Brien,  accompanied  by  his  friends,  the  members  of  the  Asso 
ciation  Committee,  and  the  leading  Confederates,  passed  amidst  enthusiastic 
cheering,  and  attended  by  many  a  fervent  and  loudly-uttered  wish  that  he 
might  come  forth  free  and  triumphant. 

"The  clubs,  on  leaving  Messrs.  O'Brien  and  Meagher  at  the  courts, 
re-formed,  and  proceeded  to  visit  John  Mitchel  in  Newgate.  When  the  word 
was  given,  the  dense  mass  of  people  who  crammed  the  quay  opened,  as  it 
by  magic,  and  through  this  lane  the  clubs  passed  in  living  mass  and  close 
column.  They  first  proceeded  up. 

CHURCH  STREET, 

which,  although  it  was  packed  from  side  to  side,  did  not  present  one  single 
instance  of  obstruction.  They  then  turned  into 

NORTH  KING  STREET  AND  HALSTON  STREET. 

"The  long  line  passed  by  the  Little  Green,  the  people  cheering  vocifer 
ously  as  they  first  caught  sight  of  the  rear  of 

NEWGATE. 

"The  applause  was  kept  up  until  the  head  of  the  column  reached  the 
front  of  the  prison  in 

GREEN  STREET. 

"  On  the  steps  of  the  prison  stood  six  police  in  two  files,  with  a  reserve 
of  a  similar  number  in  the  entrance  to  the  '  Hatch.' 

"Mrs.  Mitchel,  the  young  and  exceedingly  interesting  lady  of  the  iumate 
of  the  prison,  was  leaving  the  prison  with  Mr.  Reilly  as  the  procession 
turned  into  Green  street.  The  street  and  steps  of  the  prison  were  instantly 
blocked  up. 


THE  MUSTER    OF  THE   CLUB*.  179 

"  As  the  first  club  fronted  the  gaol,  a  deafening  cheer  was  raised,  all 
the  inmates  of  the  opposite  houses  joining  in  the  chorus,  waving,  at  th« 
same  time,  hats  and  handkerchief*.  During  this  moving  scene.  Mrs.  Mitchel 
bore  herself  like  a  heroine,  and  as  she  moved  her  hand  in  thankfulness  the 
applause  was  stunning.  Mr.  Reilly  remained  uncovered  during  the  proceed 
ings,  and  received  more  than  one  hearty  cheer. 

•'  As  the  St.  Patrick's  Club  came  up  in  front  of  the  gaol,  the  excite 
ment  became  more  intense.  A  tall,  powerful-looking  gentlemanly  individual, 
stood  out  from  the  front  rank,  and  exclaimed  hi  a  sonorous  voice,  which 
was  heard  afar  over  the  vast  crowd :  — '  This  is  The  Felon's  Club ! '  The 
club  instantaneously  uncovered  and  marched  past  in  funeral  pace. 

"  The  whole  scene  was  wonderfully  affecting.  All  passed  on  in  dead 
silence  until  the  last  line,  when  a  cheer,  sustained  with  marvellous  power 
of  lung,  rang  from  out  the  crowd  which  encompassed  the  gaol.  So  hearty 
was  this  shout  of  thunder  —  so  much  in  earnest  seemed  the  aspect  of  the 
multitude  —  that  the  police  recoiled ;  and,  as  was  said  by  a  by-stander,  '  If 
the  people  wished  to  break  the  peace  there  were  enough  there  to  eat  up 
the  gaol.' 

"But  all  passed  off  in  the  utmost  peacefulness,  and  the  clubs  passed  up 
Bolton  street  and  Capel  street  to  the  quays,  falling  oft"  to  their  respective 
club-rooms,  and  finally  dispersing.  An  immense  crowd,  however,  remained 
around  the  courts." 

As  a  participator  in  the  demonstration  so  graphically  described,  I  can 
bear  personal  testimony  to  the  general  fidelity  of  the  reporter's  pencil. 
With  regard,  however,  to  the  scene  in  front  of  Newgate,  when  Mrs.  Mitchel 
appeared  on  the  steps  with  Mr.  Reilly,  I  can  add  a  little  information  rel 
ative  to  an  incident  which  possibly  escaped  the  professional  gentleman's 
observation,  owing  to  his  position  at  the  moment  it  transpired. 

"  The  leading  files  of  the  Swift  Club  had  just  arrived  opposite  the  en 
trance  to  Xewgate,  when  the  club's  vice-president,  Thomas  Devin  Reilly, 
came  forth  from  the  prison,  leading  a  slight,  and  very  fair  young  lady 
with  a  sweetly  pensive  face  and  light  auburn  hair.  At  the  sight  of  the 
two  the  club  halted,  and  some  one  having  observed  —  "  That's  Mrs.  Mitchel!" 
all  heads  were  uncovered  and  a  cheer  rang  out,  which  was  taken  up  bj 
the  entire  column,  and  reverberated  from  the  surrounding  houses.  Both  Mrs. 
Miu-hel  and  Mr.  Reilly  gracefully  acknowledged  the  salutation,  the  lady's 

blue    eyes    flashing    with    prideful    excitement,   while    those    of    her    impulsive 

/ 
escort    were    glistening    with    the    moisture    that    sprang  from  an  overflowing 

Leart. 

Again,   and  again,   the  cheers  were  repeated  —  to  the  evident  gratification 


180  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

of  the  lady,  and  the  no  less  evident  mortification  of  the  police  around  her 
One  of  the  latter —  whether  actuated  by  fear  of  a  rush  on  the  open  prison 
door  by  the  excited  crowd  — or  by  natural  ruffianism  and  malignity  —  at 
tempted  to  push  the  lady  back  into  the  gaol,  but  she  declined  to  move, 
and  clung  to  the  railing,  in  resistance  to  his  efforts.  He  was  about  trying 
to  loosen  her  grasp  — when  a  fierce  cry  of—  "Hands  off  there!"  rang  out 
from  the  ranks,  and,  heeding  the  ominous  warning,  the  ruffian — pale  with 
terror,  retreated  with  his  associates  into  the  prison  and  hastily  closed  the 
door. 

It  was  well  they  did  so  —  for  that  moment  was  the  crisis  of  their  lives; 
ten  seconds'  hesitation  —  and  Newgate  would  have  more  inmates  than  ever  it 
had  since  its  foundation ;  and,  though  no  weapons  were  visible  amongst  them 
—  all  were  not  dependent  on  their  naked  hands  for  a  contest  at  close- 
quarters. 

"What  a  grand  subject  for  an  Irish  historical  picture  that  scene  in  fronl 
of  Newgate  would  have  made  —  had  a  capable  artist  been  present? 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 

THROUGH  PETTICOAT  LANE. 

Tls  to  the  mob  that  I  belong.— BERANGEB. 

ABOUT  two  hours  after  the  thrilling  incident  recorded  in  the  last  chap 
ter  had  transpired,  there  was  witnessed  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  New 
gate —  a  somewhat  different  though  not  less  exciting  scene,  and  one  which 
vividly  reflected  the  popular  temperament  in  Dublin  outside  of  the  regularly 
organized  national  forces. 

As  no  reporter  witnessed  the  commencement  of  this  transaction  there 
was  but  little  publicity  given  to  it  in  the  daily  papers,  and  that  little  was 
incorrect  in  many  particulars,  and  especially  so  in  ascribing  the  chief  credit 
of  the  tumultuous  and  extemporary  outburst  of  feeling  to  the  members  of 
the  Confederate  clubs.  And  yet  the  incident,  as  unforeseen  as  it  was  un 
premeditated,  afforded  one  of  those  fateful  opportunities,  which,  in  revolu 
tionary  times,  —  it  promptly  taken  advantage  of  —  often  tend  to  turn  the 
balance  in  which  a  nation's  destiny  is  weighed. 

The  whole  affair    was    essentially  an    accident,   and    it    was  owing  to   the 


THROUGH  PETTICOAT  LANE.  181 

merest    accident    that    I    was  present  to  witness  it,   from  its  inception  to  its 
close. 

For  the  information  of  such  of  my  readers  as  may  be  unacquainted 
with  the  topography  of  Dublin.  I  will  state  that,  the  open  space  surround 
ing  Xewgate  prison,  communicates  with  the  quay  on  which  the  Four  Courts 
are  situated,  by  several  short  and  narrow  lanes  —  which,  in  their  turn,  are 
intersected  by  others  of  a  similar  character.  In  the  vicinity  of  the  prison 
—  to  the  rear  —  was  situated  the  ''Potato-Market'' — usually  a  bustling,  well- 
thronged  spot  —  during  business  hours.  I  may  also  mention  that,  at  the  time 
of  which  I  write,  the  district  referred  to  was  one  of  the  most  active  centre! 
of  pike-manufacture  in  the  metropolis;  —  from  the  fact  that  a  considerable 
portion  of  its  industrious  denizens  followed  the  calling  of  cutlers,  smiths, 
nailers,  tinkers,  and  dealers  in  hardware  new  or  second-hand. 

In  company  with  my  two  comrades,  Bob.  Ward  and  Dan.  Magrath,  I 
had  been  on  a  business  mission  on  behalf  of  Devin  Eeilly  to  one  of  the 
most  artistic  cutlers  in  Charles  street,  and  when  returning  to  our  lodginga, 
through  Green  street, — just  in  front  of  the  prison  —  we  met  Mr.  Reilly  in 
company  with  Mr.  Vernon,  (Mrs.  Mitchel's  brother). 

While  engaged  in  conversation  with  these  gentlemen  we  noticed  a  cov 
ered  car,  escorted  by  some  mounted  policemen,  drive  up  to  the  main  en 
trance  of  the  gaol.  A  detachment  of  police  on  foot  followed,  some  of 
whom  drew  up  on  either  side  of  the  car,  while  others  took  up  a  position 
at  the  entrance  to  one  of  the  lanes  leading  from  Green  street  to  the  Four 
Courts. 

Those  movements  of  the  officials  attracted  the  attention  of  the  few  per 
sons  then  in  the  vicinity,  and  they  congregated  in  front  of  the  gaol  in 
expectation  of  some  unusual  occurrence. 

Their  anxiety  and  suspense  was  soon  ended,  for  presently  the  prison 
door  opened  and  John  Mitchel,  attended  by  a  squad  of  police,  came  out 
and  stood  for  a  few  moments  on  the  topmost  step.  He  wore  a  glazed  cap, 
and  appeared  as  resolute,  cool,  and  self-possessed,  as  ever  I  saw  him,  and 
in  no  way  affected  by  his  environments.  It  was  not  so  with  the  crowd, 
whom  the  cry  of  '•'•Mitchell'1''  " MITCHEL!"  (shouted  excitedly  by  those  who 
first  recognized  the  undaunted  "  Felon.")  attracted  —  as  if  sprung  from  out 
of  the  ground  —  so  suddenly  did  they  appear  on  the  scene. 

The  first  ringing  cheer  was  re-echoed  from  a  half-dozen  different  direc 
tion?,  and  a  stream  of  human  beings  came  rushing  through  every  street 
debouching  on  Newgate.  In  a  minute  the  open  space  was  thronged  by  the 
stormy  multitude,  and  as  the  covered  car  was  driven  up  to  the  stepi 
to  receive  the  prisoner — aery  of  '•'No  carl  No  co*1/" —  "MARCH!"  waf- 


182  MEMOIES   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

raised.  Mitchel  and  his  escort  having  entered  the  vehicle  —  the  horses  \\ere 
driven  at  a  gallop  towards  the  Courts,  with  mounted  policemen  in  front, 
rear,  and  on  both  sides  of  the  conveyance. 

The  crowd  was  momentarily  taken  by  surprise  at  the  suddenness  of  the 
onset;  but  quickly  recovering  they  dashed  wildly  after  the  carriage,  and 
came  up  with  it  as  it  was  dashing  into  "Petticoat  Lane."  Here  a  strong 
force  of  police  was  posted  —  as  if  in  anticipation  of  such  a  movement  by 
the  people,  —  and  no  sooner  had  the  vehicle  and  its  mounted  escort  entered 
the  lane,  than  they  formed  across  the  narrow  passage,  in  double  ranks  —  to 
bar  the  further  progress  of  the  living  torrent.  But  the  people's  blood  waa 
up  then  and  they  pressed  on. 

Devin  Eeily  and  his  friends  happened  to  be  among  the  foremost  to  bear 
down  on  the  barred  thoroughfare  —  and  he  was  promptly  collared  by  a  stal 
wart  six-footer  —  who  was  as  promptly  levelled  as  if  shot,  by  a  blow  be 
tween  the  eyes  from  "  Slashing  Bob.  Ward ! " 

With  a  shout  of  triumph  and  defiance,  the  crowd  swept  like  a  mountain- 
flood  through  the  gap  thus  formed;  —  over  the  prostrate  policeman's  body  they 
tramped  —  his  comrades,  leaving  him  to  his  fate,  and  mindful  only  of  saving 
themselves  —  gave  way  before  the  resistless  stream;  and,  with  faces  pale  with 
fright,  turned  to  walls  on  either  side,  and  felt  the  bounding  mass  sweep 
on  behind  them,  expecting  momentarily  to  be  overwhelmed  beneath  its  an^ry 
surges.  But  Bob.  Ward's  well-timed  blow  was  the  only  one  actually  struck 
on  that  occasion. 

How  the  gallant  fellow  would  have  prided  in  it,  had  it  been  —  what  for 
a  few  moments  seemed  within  the  bounds  of  probability — "  The  first  blow  of 
THE  REVOLUTION!" 

That  wild  rush  down  the  lane  can  no  more  be  described  in  its  details 
than  could  the  passage  of  a  tornado.  The  chaotic  tumult  on  every  side  was 
so  bewildering,  and  the  time  of  its  occurrence  so  brief,  that  neither  eye  nor 
ear  could  take  cognizance  of  the  separate  elements  blended  confusedly  in 
sight  and  sound.  A  lightning-like  glimpse  at  startled,  impassioned  faces  fill 
ing  open  windows  in  advance  of  me;  or  other  forms  dropping,  or  leaning, 
from  second  stories,  or  rushing  from  the  doors  with  some  hastily-snatched 
weapon  in  hand;  the  carriage  and  its  galloping  escort  a  few  yards  ahead; 
ind  in  the  distance  —  bounding  the  view  in  front  — a  black  mass  of  resolute 
watchful  men  lining  the  quays; — this  was  what  I  saw. 

The   rumbling    of    wheels    and    clatter  of    galloping  hoofs  over  the  stony 
itreet;  the  hoarse  shouts  of  angry  men;   the  clamor   of    excited  women  :in  d 
jhildren  —  their  shrill  cry  of  "MITCHEL!  MITCHEL  !  "  —  "  Now  boys  we  have 
him!" 


THROUGH  PETTICOAT  LANE.  183 

That  is  all  1  remember  hearing,  as  with  feet  scarcely  touching  the 
ground  —  I  was  borne  along  in  the  head-long  rush  —  my  brain  in  a  whirl  of 
excitement  —  through  which,  like  a  flash,  came  the  thought  that,  in  another 
minute,  this  rushing,  living  torrent  would  dash  into  the  human  sea  in  our 
front,  communicating  thereunto  its  own  impetuous  activity  and  resolute  pur 
pose —  and  then 

A  bitter  imprecation  gave  vent  to  my  feelings,  as  I  saw  one  of  the 
mounted  escort  grasp  the  reins  from  the  driver's  hands,  and  suddenly  wheel 
to  the  right  and  into  an  open  gate  leading  to  the  rear  of  the  Four  Courts, 
and  within  fifty  yards  of  the  expectant  thousands  on  the  quay.  The  quickly 
closed  gate  told  the  flushed  and  panting  crowd,  that  their  half-formed  hope 
was  vanished  for  the  time-being;  and  they  joined  the  eager  assemblage  in 
front  of  the  Courts  to  explain  the  cause  of  their  exitement,  and  find  heart 
felt  sympathy  in  their  disappointment. 

On  our  return  over  the  same  route  a  few  minutes  later,  we  found 
the  people  earnestly  discussing  the  startling  occurrence.  One  hale  old 
man,  addressing  a  group  of  attentive  listeners,  observed  that,  since  "Em 
met's  Rebellion,"  it  was  the  only  time  in  which  he  had  seen  the  law  de 
fied  in  broad  daylight  in  Dublin  —  and  its  supporters  trampled  under  foot. 
In  further  commenting  on  the  fact,  he  added,  — "  There  certainly  is  a  great 
change  coming  over  the  people  —  and,  dear  knows,  'tis  time  for  it." 

The  greatest  and  most  practical  of  Ireland's  revolutionary  leaders,  Theo 
bald  Wolfe  Tone,  in  expressing  his  admiration  of  the  enthusiasm  manifested 
by  the  Parisians  in  the  cause  of  Liberty  and  their  Native  Land,  said  — "  We 
must  move  Heaven  and  earth  to  create  such  enthusiasm  in  Ireland." 

In  Revolutionary  times,  the  exhibition  of  such  enthusiasm  as  that  of 
the  "mob"  in  Petticoat  Lane,  is  a  healthy  sign  of  the  body  politic,  and 
no  leader,  who  aspires  to  emulate  Tone,  should  under-estimate  its  value  as 
an  element  of  popular  strength  —  or  fail  to  take  prompt  advantage  of  its 
outburst  at  an  opportune  moment. 

But  little  consideration  was  given  the  occurrence  related  above  at  the 
time  it  transpired  —  owing,  principally,  to  the  public  attention  being  concen 
trated  on  the  State  Prosecutions.  My  principal  reason  for  referring  to  it  at 
present,  is  to  show  that  the  unorganized  element  of  the  Dublin  workmen, 
were  as  eager  to  respond  to  a  call  on  their  patriotism  in  a  life-and-death 
struggle  for  Ireland,  as  their  more  carefully  prepared  fellow-citizens  of  the 
Confederate  Clubs. 

John  Mitchel's  transfer  from  Xewgate  to  the  Four  Courts  was  for  the 
purpose  of  attending  the  reduction  of  his  jury  list  at  the  crown  ottice.  The 
business  completed,  he  was  brought  back  to  prison  in  the  common  police- 


ISi  AlEMOIES  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

van,  escorted  by  a  large  body  of  horse  and  foot  police.  The  return  was, 
however,  made  by  a  different  route  than  that  taken  to  the  Courts,  fox 
obvious  reasons. 


CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

THE    STATE    PROSECUTIONS.  —  O'BRIEN"    AND    MEAGHER   DIS 
CHARGED.  —  "  CONSTITUTIONAL  "   GOVERNMENT 
A  FAILURE. 

THE  trial  of  Smith  O'Brien  for  sedition  occupied  but  a  single  day.  The 
speeches  for  the  prosecution  and  the  examination  of  witnesses  took  up 
about  two-thirds  of  the  time.  Then  the  judge  and  jury  retired  for  a  brief 
period,  and  on  their  return  Mr.  Isaac  Butt,  Q.  C.,  rose  to  address  the  jury 
for  the  defence.  He  delivered  what  the  reporters  styled — "an  able  uud 
eloquent  address,"  at  the  conclusion  of  which  Sergeant  Warren  replied  on 
behalf  of  the  crown — stating  the  law  of  the  case  to  the  jury.  Then  the 
Chief  Justice,  in  a  speech  of  an  hour's  duration,  endeavored  to  impress  the 
jury  with  a  sense  of  their  responsibilities,  and  at  half-past  six  o'clock  that 
body  retired  for  deliberation,  but  failing  to  come  to  an  agreement,  were 
locked  up  for  the  night. 

On  the  court  opening  next  morning  the,  jury  were  called  in,  and  the 
foreman  stating  that  there  was  no  possibility  of  their  agreeing  on  a  ver 
dict,  they  were  discharged  —  as  was  also  the  traverser. 

THOMAS  FKANCIS  MEAGHER'S  trial  comminced  on  Tuesday,  May  16th. 
The  proceedings  incident  thereto,  including  the  preliminary  escort  of  the 
clubs,  differed  but  little  from  those  that  took  place  at  the  trial  of  his  com 
patriot.  Mr.  Butt  defended  him  with  his  usual  ability,  and  the  jury  could 
not  be  induced  to  agree  on  a  verdict;  they  had  retired  at  a  quarter  to  four 
o'clock,  and  at  five  minutes  past  five  the  Chief  Justice  sent  for  them,  but 
in  reply  to  his  query  if  they  had  agreed,  he  was  informed  by  the  foreman 
that  they  "had  not,  nor  was  there  any  chance  of  their  agreeing  —  for  there 
were  two  gentlemen  who  said  they  would  not  agree  with  the  others." 

They  were  accordingly  locked  up  for  the  night. 

On  the  following  morning  the  jury  were  again  brought  into  court,  and 
having  answered  to  their  names, 


TEE  STATE  PROSECUTIONS.  185 

The    Registrar    asked,    "Gentlemen,   have    you    agreed    to    your  verdict?" 

Foreman  —  "We  have  not." 

Chief  Justice — "Are  you  likely  to  agree,   gentlemen?" 

Foreman  —  "We  are  not,   my  lord." 

Chief  Justice  —  "Then  I  discharge  you." 

At  this  moment  one  of  the  jurymen  —  an  auctioneer  named  Thomas  Fer- 
rall  —  in  his  anxiety  to  relieve  himself  and  his  fellows,  of  the  true  blue 
stripe,  from  the  suspicion  of  disloyalty  — "  let  the  cat  out  of  the  bag,"  by 
exclaiming,  in  an  aggrieved  tone  — 

"  We  are  eleven  to  one,  my  lord,  and  that  one  is  a  Roman  Catholic." 
(Considerable  sensation  followed  Mr.  Ferrall's  revelation). 

The  incautious  "tell-tale"  was,  however,  slightly  mistaken;  for,  in  addi 
tion  to  that;  contumacious  "  Roman  Catholic,"  there  was  an  honest  Protestant 
who  also  dissented  from  the  majority — and  said  so  at  the  time. 

Mr.  Meagher,  accompanied  by  Mr.  O'Brien,  his  friends  and  counsel,  then 
left  the  court,  and  resumed  his  place  in  the  procession  of  Confederates 
which  had  escorted  him  from  the  Council-rooms,  in  D'Olier  street,  that  mor 
ning—the  cheering  multitude  crossed  over  the  bridge  and  marched  by  the 
opposite  quays  to  their  starting-point  opposite  the  Council-rooms.  Here  they 
drew  up  in  compact  lines  and  were  addressed  from  the  windows  by  Messrs. 
Meagker  and  O'Brien. 

Both  gentlemen  congratulated  their  fellow-countrymen  on  the  triumphs  they 
had  just  won,  and  Mr.  O'Brien  announced  that  in  a  few  days  arrangements 
would  be  made  for  holding  an  open-air  aggregate  meeting  of  the  working- 
men  of  Dublin,  to  protest  against  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  govern 
ment  to  pack  the  jury  before  whom  John  Mitchel  was  to  be  tried  for 
treasoi, -felony. 

On  the  evening  of  Meagher's  trial,  at  about  nine  o'clock,  the  clubs  assem 
bled  in  their  full  strength  on  D'Olier  street,  for  the  special  purpose  of 
making  a  demonstration  in  front  of  Newgate  in  honor  of  John  Mitchel, 
and  also,  to  celebrate  the  victory  in  the  law-courts  by  a  parade  through 
the  principal  streets  of  the  city.  It  was,  in  my  opinion,  the  most  imposing 
exhibition  of  disciplined  strength  yet  made,  at  that  exciting  period,  in  the 
Irish  metropolis. 

The  clubs  formed  in  column  of  fours,  and  in  that  order,  marched  along 
the  quays  to  the  Four  Courts,  and  thence  to  Newgate  prison,  on  passing 
which,  each  club  gave  three  cheers  for — "THE  FELON,"  which  were  repeated 
along  the  whole  line  with  startling  effect. 

From  the  prison  the  column  marched  in  silence  on  their  selected  route, 
finally  crossing  the  bridge  from  Sackville  street  to  D'Olier  street,  where  an 


186  ME  MO  IHS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FSANCIS  MEAG-HEE. 

immense  concourse  had  assembled,  through  the  midst  of  which  the  club* 
marched,  and  took  up  their  station  in  the  Council-room  —  when  they  were 
addressed  by  Meagher  in  a  jubilant  speech. 

The  clubs  then  marched  to  Smith  O'Brien's  residence  in'  Westland  Row, 
and  cheered  him  enthusiastically.  Thence  they  passed  on  through  Merrion 
Square,  Merrion  Row,  and  Stephen's  Green  to  Leeson  street  —  fluttering  the 
aristocratic  loyalists  and  Castle  toadies  of  those  localities  —  until,  arriving 
at  the  residence  of  Mr.  Butt,  they  deployed  into  line,  and  gave  the  popu 
lar  advocate  a  hearty  greeting  —  showing  how  they  appreciated  his  efforts  in 
defence  of  their  trusted  leaders.  After  leaving  Mr.  Butt's  the  Clubs  took  up 
their  line  of  march  through  Stephen's  Green,  Graf  ton  street,  and  West 
moreland  street  —  into  Sackville  street,  where  they  disbanded. 

The  Castle  authorities  seemed  to  attach  special  significance  to  this  noc 
turnal  parade  of  the  popular  forces.  Whether  they  fancied  the  possibility 
of  its  being  a  prelude  to  the  opening  of  the  anticipated  revolutionary  drama 
or  were  urged  into  action  by  the  fears  of  the  ultra-loyalists  —  who  were  hor 
rified  at  this  irruption  of  the  commonality  into  their  exclusive  precincts  — 
may  be  an  open  question.  But,  at  all  events,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
Lord  Clarendon  felt  called  upon  to  intervene  in  such  manifestations  of  pop 
ular  sentiment.  Accordingly,  he  issued  a  "Proclamation"  —  forbidding  such 
assemblages  in  future  —  on  penalty  of  dire  consequences  to  whoever  did  not 
heed  the  warning.  Smith  O'Brien  promptly  took  up  the  Vice-regal  gauntlet, 
and  issued  a  counter  proclamation  exhorting  the  citizens  to  uphold  their 
rights,  and  daring  their  enemies  to  interfere  in  their  threatened  arbitrary 
fashion. 

Thousands  of  this  document  were  printed,  and,  wherever  Clarendon's 
"  manifesto  *'  was  posted  throughout  the  city  —  its  antidote  was  seen  in  its 
immediate  proximity.  Evidently  some  party  must  back  down  —  or  there  was 
"fun,"'  at  no  great  distance  ahead. 

Impressed  with  this  conviction,  my  comrades  and  self  were  on  the  look 
out  for  its  first  appearance.  Our  praiseworthy  undertaking  was  singularly 
favored  by  Fortune  —  for,  on  the  night  following  the  appearance  of  Smith 
O'Brien's  proclamation,  as  we  strolled  over  Carlisle  Bridge,  on  our  way  to 
D'Olier  street,  we  were  confronted  by  a  strong  body  of  police  in  the  act 
of  forming  across  the  latter  thoroughfare.  Quickening  our  pace,  we  passed 
into  the  street  —  bef 01  e  the  blockading  line  had  reached  the  sidewalk  —  and 
there  halted,  awaiting  developments.  We  had  not  long  to  wait,  for  three 
men  were  coming  down  D  Olier  street;  —  two  of  whom  we  recognized  as 
Dr.  John  Gray,  proprietor  of  the  Freeman's  Journal — and  his  brother,  Wil- 
ion  Gray,  Esq.  The  Doctor,  accosting  Ward,  enquired  the  meaning  of  this 


THE  STATE  PROSECUTIONS.  IS? 


obstruction  of  the  public  street?  '-Bob."  —  who  entertained  the  most  supreme 
contempt  for  the  dapper  ex-"Kepeal  Martyr's"  "  fence-straddling "  proclivities 
—  professed  his  inability  to  solve  the  conundrum,  and,  maliciously,  referred 
his  interlocutor  to  the  "obstructionists"  for  the  required  information. 

With  the  proud  strut  of  a  pugnacious  bantam,  and  a  dignity  becoming 
the  future  Lord  Mayor  of  Dublin,  the  little  doctor  attempted  to  'brush 
through  the  confronting  ranks.  But  a  rude  push,  accompanied  by  a  peremp 
tory  — "  Stand  back  there ! "  —  brought  him  to  a  sudden  halt,  and  suflused 
his  smooth,  rosy  cheeks  with  the  deeper  flush  of  passionate  indignation. 

"What!"  he  exclaimed,  "is  the  meaning  of  this  outrage?  Has  it  come 
to  this,  that  a  citizen  of  Dublin  can't  walk  the  streets  of  his  native  city?" 

"/$  just  has,  then!"  was  the  cool  and  insulting  reply.  "So  stand  back, 
at  your  peril !  " 

But  our  hero's  blood  was  up,  and  as  he  seemed  inclined  to  give  the 
upholder  of  "  Law.  and  Order "  a  further  "  piece  of  his  mind,"  he  was  in 
continently  arrested,  together  with  his  two  companions,  and  marched  off  to 
the  Head  Police  Office  in  College  street  —  followed  by  the  amused  orowd 
that  had,  meanwhile,  collected  at  the  barrier.  As,  however,  the  curiosity- 
hunters  were  denied  admission  to  Mr.  Porter's  reception  room,  we  retired. 

When  on  our  way  home  through  Capel  street,  we  called  at  the  rooms 
of  the  Curran  Club,  where  Ward  gave  the  members  a  graphic  description 
of  Dr.  Gray's  rencounter  with  t%  Clarendon's  bullies,''  it  was  received  with 
cheers  —  one  enthusiast  shouting  — 

"There   goes  the   '  last   plai,k  of  Ihe   Constitution!'    Doctor!" 

This  phrase  had  reference  to  a  declaration  recently  made  by  the  cau 
tious  Editor  of  the  Freeman  —  that  he  would  "stand  on  the  platform  of  the 
Constitution  until  the  last  plank  was  swept  from  under  him,"  —  and  then  — 

When  Lord  Clarendon  ordered  the  police  to  blockade  the  approaches  to 
the  Council-rooms  of  the  Irish  Confederation,  he  was  well  aware  that  no 
muster  of  the  clubs  in  the  vicinity  was  contemplated  for  that  night,  conse 
quently  he  anticipated  no  danger  of  a  collision  with  the  citizens  then.  But, 
as  the  open-air  meeting  ot  the  citizens  was  announced  to  take  place  on  the 
Sunday  following,  he  calculated  that,  by  this  show  of  determination  to  en 
force  his  proclamation  against  the  clubs  marching  in  procession  —  the  latter 
might  be  induced  to  heed  the  warning  and  forego  their  expressed  intention 
to  maintain  their  rights. 

It  was  a  veritable  "game  of  bluff"  with  the  wily  and  unscrupulous 
occupant  of  the  Castle.  He  might  succeed  in  forcing  his  opponents  to  throw 
up  their  hand  —  and,  if  so,  their  cause  was  doomed  —  as  surely  as  was 


183  MEMOIES  OF  GEN,  THOMAS  fKANCIS  MBdGJIER 

O'Connell's  after  the   "Clontarf    back-down."    But,  if   such  were  his  calcula 
tions,  they  were  based  on  a  mistaken  estimate  of  the  people's  resolution. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 


THE    TEST    OF    MANHOOD 

•Tis  the  Green  — oh,  the  Green  Is  the  color  of  the  true, 

And  we'll  back  It  'gainst  the  orange,  and  we'll  raise  It  o'er  the  blue. 

JOHN  EDWARD  PIGOT  ("  Fermoy.") 

SUNDAY,  May  21st,  was  the  day  appointed  by  the  council  for  the  hold 
ing  of  the  aggregate  meeting.  The  clubs  had  received  orders  to  assemble 
at  noou,  at  their  several  halls,  and  march  from  thence  by  the  most  direct 
route  to  the  place  of  meeting  —  (which  was  at  Bellview  —  in  the  suburbs  of 
the  city,  where  Mr.  Eiiiiis,  an  extensive  manufacturer,  had  given  the  large 
area  within  his  premises  for  the  purpose). 

At  no  previous  time  —  since  the  date  of  the  French  Revolution, — did  the 
Confederates  see  more  cause  to  anticipate  a  collision  with  the  government 
authorities  than  on  that  morning.  All  the  political  occurrences  of  the  past 
week,  and  more  especially  the  issuing  of  the  rival  •'  proclamations,"  and  the 
subsequent  threatening  display  of  the  police  force  on  the  streets,  tended  to 
that  direction.  All  classes  of  the  population  —  both  friends  and  foes  —  the 
peaceably  disposed  and  those  belligerently  inclined  —  though  animated  by 
different  feelings  of  anxiety,  or  hope,  seemed  to  concur  in  the  opinion  that, 
if  the  clubs  carried  out  their  avowed  determination  to  march,  as  heretofore, 
through  the  streets  —  a  fight  was  inevitable.  Under  these  circumstances,  it 
must  be  acknowledged,  that,  in  facing  the  contingency  —  and  what,  in  their 
opinion,  was  the  certainty  —  of  an  ambushed  attack  from  a  treacherous  and 
vindictive  foe  —  and,  —  in  obedience  to  the  orders  of  their  trusted  leaders  — 
doing  so  unarmed  —  the  Dublin  club-men  exhibited  a  very  high  degree  of 
disciplined  moral  courage ;  and,  judging  from  what  transpired  under  my  per 
sonal  observation  on  that  occasion  —  the  leaders  proved  essentially  worthy  of 
the  implicit  confidence  reposed  in  their  judgment  and  resolution. 

The  Swift  Club  and  its  President,  Eichard  O'Gorman,  Jun.,  were  spe 
cially  destined  on  that  day  to  represent  their  compatriots  in  standing  the 
test  of  manhood,  and  most  nobly  did  they  pass  through  the  ordeal. 


THE    TEST   OF  MANHOOD.  189 

At  an  early  hour  011  that  bright  May  morning,  Edward  Roach,  color- 
bearer  of  the  club,  fluug  the  "Green  Flag"  —  bearing  the  motto  — 

"MouRiR  POUR  LA  PATRIE," 

from  the  window  of  Xo.  31  Queen  street.  The  signal  of  defiance  soon  at 
tracted  an  excited  crowd  to  the  vicinity,  and  long  before  the  time  appoint 
ed  for  the  muster  of  the  club,  Queen  street  was  black  with  people  —  from 
end  to  end.  Judging .  from  the  flashing  eyes  and  determined  appearance  of 
the  mass,  as  I  approached  the  club-room  I  felt  confident  that,  if  it  came 
to  blows,  the  regular  organization  would  not  have  to  fight  it  out  alone,  and 
(what  was  still  more  assuring,)  that  their  volunteer  allies  would  not  —  like 
them  —  engage  in  the  melee  empty-handed. 

Before  entering  the  building  I  learned  that  a  large  body  of  police  — 
constituting  nearly  one-third  of  the  entire  force  of  the  city  —  had  just  taken 
up  a  position  on  Black  Hall  place  —  on  the  club's  proposed  line  of  march  — 
and  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  the  Royal  Barracks.  I  could  see  that 
the  news  intensified  the  excitement  of  the  crowd,  and  that  many  of  the 
most  determined-looking  hastily  left. 

I  found  the  club-room  fast  filling  with  the  regular  members,  and  soon 
after  my  entrance,  the  cheering  in  the  street  announced  the  arrival  of  Rich 
ard  O'Gorman.  Somewhat  to  our  surprise,  we  saw  that  he  was  accompanied 
by  the  Most  Rev.  Doctor  Yore,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  Catholic  cler 
gymen  in  Dublin.  The  good  priest, — animated  by  love  of  the  people,  and 
an  earnest  desire  to  prevent  a  possibility  of  bloodshed — which  he  evidently 
feared  would  result  from  the  club's  marching  in  procession  in  defiance  of 
the  Lord  Lieutenant's  proclamation,  and  his  police  in  position  on  the  route 

—  was   pathetically   appealing    to  Mr.   O'Gorman    to    abandon    the    idea  of  at 
tending    the    meeting    with    his    followers  in  procession,   but  rather  to  advise 
them   to   go  there  individually. 

But  O'Gorman  declined  to  accede  to  his  request.  He  told  him  that 
"the  club  would  not  be  deterred  from  exercising  their  undoubted  right  by 
any  fear  of  what  the  authorities  might  contemplate  doing  to  prevent  them 

—  that,   if    blood    was    shed,   let    those    who  caused  it  bear  the  responsibility 
of  the  crime,   and  take  the  consequences." 

The  President  then  issued  his  orders  to  the  men  to  form  and  take  up 
their  position  on  the  sidewalk.  His  directions  were  promptly  obeyed,  and 
the  men,  in  column  of  lours,  filed  down  stairs  and  into  the  street.  They 
were  received  in  respectful  silence  by  the  waiting  crowd  —  who  had  received 
instructions  to  that  effect. 

Here    again,   Dr.   Yore    made    a    final    appeal   to   Mr.   O'Gorman   to  recede 


190  HEM01BS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FEANGIS  MEAGHEE. 

from  his  determination.  I  cannot  recall  his  touching  arguments,  but  O'Gor- 
man's  reply  I  well  remember.  It  was  in  these  words:  —  "Dr.  Yore,  1  ap 
preciate  the  rnotiv*  s  which  actuate  you  in  making  this  request,  but  I  cannot 
comply  with  it :  —  for  the  Council  of  the  Irish  Confederation  has  decided 
that  the  clubs  shall  march  to  the  meeting  —  and  this  club  will  march  there!" 

Just  at  this  moment  Mr.  O'Gorman  was  approached  by  a  Police  Inspec 
tor,  who  addressed  him  some  words  in  a  low  tone  of  voice,  so  that,  though 
standing  within  a  few  yard  of  the  two,  I  could  not  catch  their  import. 
But  Mr.  O'Gorman's  reply  rang  distinctly  over  the  attentive  multitude :  — 

"  Whatever  communication  you  wish  to  make  to  me,  sir,  I  request  that 
it  be  made  so  that  all  concerned  shall  hear  it." 

"  Well,  then !"  said  the  Inspector,  in  a  conciliatory  tone,  "  I  simply  re 
quest,  that  you  will  promise  on  behalf  of  your  friends  here,  that  they  will 
pass  on  to  the  place  of  meeting  in  an  orderly  manner,  and  not  do  anything 
that  may  tend  to  a  violation  of  the  peace!" 

O'Gorman,   in  a  dignified  manner,   replied :  — 

"  Sir,  my  friends  here  are  intelligent,  self-respecting  citizens  who  know 
their  duty,  and  require  no  advice  as  to  how  to  perform  it." 

"That's  all  I  require,  Mr.  O'Gorman  —  all  is  right  now,"  said  the  offi 
cer —  and  he  bowed  politely  and  retired. 

I  never  learned  that  officer's  name ;  but  whoever  he  was,  or  whatever 
his  actuating  motives  were,  he  kept  his  implied  pledge ;  —  for,  when,  in  a 
few  minutes  afterwards,  the  club  marched  past  four  hundred  policemen 
drawn  up  in  line  on  an  open  space,  flanking  the  line  of  march  —  and  where, 
if  disposed  to  take  advantage  of  their  position  for  attack,  they  had  the 
Confederates  at  a  decided  .  disadvantage,  they  gave  not  the  least  sign  of 
hostility,  but  looked  on  stolidly  as  the  tramping  column  swept  by  in  si 
lence,  and  as  if  in  utter  indifference  to  their  presence  in  such  close  prox 
imity.  Still,  I  have  no  doubt,  that  many  a  man  —  at  both  sides  —  breathed 
somewhat  easier  when  that  "march  past  in  review"  was  over. 

Without  any  other  incident  worth  recording,  all  the  clubs  arrived  on 
time  at  the  place  of  meeting. 

At  that  moment  the  culminating  point  of  their  power  was  attained,  al 
beit  they  were  not  aware  of  the  fact.  That  it  should  be  so  fated  was  owing 
to  no  fault  of  the  trusting  rank  and  file  of  this  glorious  confederacy  of 
earnest,  self-sacrificing  patriots. 


SCRAPS   OF  HISTORY.  191 


CHAPTER   XXXV. 

THE  MEETING.— CAUSE    AND  EFFECT. —SCRAPS  OF  HISTORY. 

FACTS  are  chlels  that  wlnna'  ding,  an'  dow  na  be  disputed.  — BURNS. 

THE  great  aggregate  meeting  was  held  for  the  purpose  of  taking  such 
steps  as  would  ensure  John  Mitchel  a  fair  trial,  in  his  contest  with  the 
English  government  —  which  was  to  be  decided  during  the  coming  week. 
The  almost  total  exclusion  of  Catholics  from  the  juries  that  tried  O'Brien 
and  Meagher,  gave  the  public  a  foretaste  of  what  was  to>be  expected  in 
the  case  of  the  more  dangerous  offender  —  for  whose  destruction  a  new  po 
litical  offence  was  created  by  special  act  of  Parliament.  All  se  ctious  of 
Repealers  met  in  public  meeting  to  protest  against  the  system  of  packing 
juries;  to  pass  "resolutions"  couched  in  language  suited  to  the  audience,  and 
vaguely  hint  at  the  possible  consequences  that  may  follow  should  their 
warnings  be  unheeded. 

While  this  line  of  action  was  what  might  be  expected  from  men  who 
still  looked  to  "  constitutional "  methods  for  regenerating  Ireland,  it  was 
hardly  that,  which  those  most  closely  identified  with  the  principles  incul 
cated  by  John  Mitchel,  expected  to  see  taken  by  his  colleagues  on  the  oc 
casion  in  question.  Up  to  the  hour  when  the  meeting  opened,  these  men 
confidently  believed  that,  —  cost  what  it  may  —  John  Mitchel  would  never 
be  permitted  to  leave  Dublin  a  victim  of  English  fraud,  or  English  force. 
They  believed  also,  —  nor  had  they  reason  to  think  otherwise  —  that  all  their 
most  trusted  leaders  held  to  this  determination,  —  (for  such  of  them  as  did 
not  avow  it,  in  unmistakable  language  —  left  it  to  be  so  inferred  —  by  their 
silence.) 

Therefore,  it  is  not  a  matter  of  surprise  that  many  of  those  who  at 
tended  the  meeting  came  away  with  but  a  vague  comprehension  of  the  pur 
port  of  the  resolutions  passed  thereat,  and  likewise,  of  the  ultimate  action 
which  those  who  prepared  the  resolutions  meant  to  take. 

THE  MEETING  CALLED  TO  ORDER. 
On  the  motion  of  Thomas  F.  Meagher,  Esq.,   the  chair  was  taken  by 

JOHN  B.  DILLON,  ESQ. 
After  some  observations  from   the   chairman,  delivered  in  his   usual    grav- 


192  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHER. 

ity  of  tone,  and  calculated  rather  to  prevent,  than  to  excite,  any  exhibition 
of  enthusiasm  in  the  attentive  audience,  the  following  resolution  was  pro 
posed  by 

MR.    ElCHARD    O'GORMAN,    JUN. 

"  Resolved,  —  That  while  we  are  unwilling  to  identify  this  Confederation 
with  all  the  opinions  of  John  Mitchel,  we  recognize  in  him  a  fearless  and 
devoted  fellow-soldier  in  the  war  which  we  are  now  waging  against  English 
oppression. 

"That,  as  such,  we  demand  for  him  a  fair  trial  before  a  fairly-selected 
jury;  and  if  that  demand  be  not  complied  with,  and  this  champion  of  Irish 
liberty  be  convicted  by  a  jury  selected  for  that  purpose,  we  pledge  ourselves 
to  use  all  means,  not  inconsistent  with  morality,  to  bring  to  punishment  all 
parties  concerned  in  the  perpetration  of  so  foul  a  wrong." 

Mr.   Crean,   in  an  able  speech,   seconded  the  resolution. 

MR.  T.  F.  MEAGHER'S  SPEECH  ON  JOHN  MITCHEL. 

Mr.  T.  F.  Meagher  proposed  the  next  resolution.     He  spoke  as  follows :  — 

"If  any  citizen  of  Dublin  came  here  this  day  with  a  view  of  hearing 
me  deliver  a  speech,  he  has  come  with  an  anxiety  which  cannot  be  grati 
fied.  (Laughter).  It  may  be,  perhaps,  too  presumptions  for  me  to  suppose 
that  any  one  came  here  for  this  purpose,  and  I  trust  that  a  better  motive 
has  influenced  your  movement  on  thfs  day.  I  trust  that  it  is  not  to  grati 
fy  an  idle  curiosity,  but  that  it  is  to  manifest  an  unequivocal  sympathy  with 
John  Mitchel  that  you  have  assembled  here  in  such  numbers,  exhibiting  in 
the  face  of  the  police  proclamation  so  determined  an  aspect.  (Cheers). 

"In  the  opinions  which  have  been  expressed  by  the  gentleman  who  pre 
ceded  me,  I  need  not  say  that  I  most  cordially  concur.  I  would  wish,  indeed, 
that  the  expression  of  such  sentiments  as  yours  —  that  the  utterance  of  great 
passions  —  would  have  the  effect  that  we  desire  —  that  of  warning  the  gov 
ernment  to  treat  this  true  citizen,  who  is  now  in  prison,  as  one  whose  pa 
triotism  has  sanctified  his  person.  (Cheers). 

"  I  believe  that  a  conviction  in  his  case  will  shake  the  foundations  of 
the  English  power  in  this  country  to  their  very  centre  —  will  lodge  in  that 
power  the  cancerous  elements  of  disloyalty,  and  that,  whether  it  be  within 
an  immediate,  or  within  a  remote  time,  that  element  will  manifest  itself  in 
a  terrible  retribution  upon  the  government  that  now,  conscious  of  its  mili 
tary  power,  dares  to  violate  what  is  styled  the  sanctuary  of  the  constitu 
tion. 

"I  need  not  say  this  — that  you  look  upon  John  Mitchel  as  the  person 
ification  of  Irish  liberty.  (Loud  cheering).  I  do  most  willingly  accord  to 


SCE  APS   OF  HIS  TOE  Y.  193 


him  the  merit  of  that  attitude  which  the  Irish  people  have  assumed  at  the 
present  moment.  (Hear.  hear).  I  am  the  more  willing  to  do  so,  because 
there  may  be  in  the  minds  of  some,  a  feeling  that  there  is  a  rivalship  ex 
isting  between  him  and  a  few  members  of  the  Irish  Confederation,  I,  who 
have  remained  in  the  Confederation,  and  have  taken  up  something  like  a 
prominent  position  in  that  body,  most  willingly  accord  to  him  the  merit  of 
having  freed  the  soul  of  this  nation  from  all  the  mists,  and  doubts,  and 
prejudices,  which  clung  around  it,  and  cramped  its  energies  and  passions, 
and  caused  that  soul  to  spring  up,  and  to  believe  only  in  one  way  to  Irish 
liberty.  (Cheers).  I  do,  then,  proclaim  him  to  be  the  imprisoned  apostle  of 
the  new  gospel,  (loud  cheers) ;  and  as  I  believe  in  what  Mr.  O'Gorman  has 
said  —  and  if  it  be  a  superstition,  I  glory  in  the  superstition  —  as  I  believe 
that  his  enthusiasm  has  descended  from  Heaven,  so  from  the  same  source 
will  descend  into  that  prison  a  power  which  will  burst  the  bars  and  bolts, 
and  give  freedom  to  the  prisoner.  (Loud  cheers). 

••Time  at  last  sets  all  things  even; 

And  If  >ou  co  but  wait  the  hour, 

There  never  yet  was  human  power 
Which  could   evade,  If  untorglven, 

The  patient  watch  and  vigil  long 

Of  those  who  treasure  up  a  wrong." 

"The  following  resolution  has  been  plnced  in  my  hands,  and  I  have 
the  honor  to  move  it :  — 

"  Resolved,  —  That  trial  by  jury  for  the  trial  of  prisoners  obnoxious  to 
the  authorities,  instituted  in  this  country,  abolishes  the  right  of  trial  by 
jury  in  toto^  as  far  as  such  prisoners  are  concerned,  and  adds  the  crowning 
proof  to  the  many  formerly  afforded  us,  that  neither  the  lives  nor  proper 
ties  of  Irishmen  are  safe  under  an  administration  which  could  sanction  such 
a  proceeding." 

Mr.  M'Gee  seconded  the  resolution  in  an  eloquent  speech,  and  was  fol 
lowed  by  John  Martin,  who  briefly  remarked  that  "  the  object  of  the  meet 
ing  was  to  declare  their  determination  to  use  all  the  exertions  in  their 
power  to  get  a  fair  trial  for  Mr.  Mitchel,  and  the  resolution  says  that  the 
packing  of  a  jury  is  an  assassination.  Do  you,''  said  Mr.  Martin,  "consider 
it  is  such!" 

"Yes,   yes!" 

"Are  you  determined  to  hold  by  that  opinion?" 

"  Yes,  yes  I " 

"  Then  I  will  trouble  you  no  further.    I   have  no  more  to  say.** 

13 


194  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FKAKCIS  MEAGHEB. 

The  meeting  having  closed,  the  clubs  marched  back  to  their  respective 
club-rooms,  unmolested,  with  the  exception  of  the  Grattan  Club  (Meagher's,) 
which  the  authorities  attempted  to  impede  on  their  route;  but  Meagher,  and 
a  section  of  his  men,  burst  through  the  obstructionists,  and  were  followed, 
with  but  little  delay,  by  the  rest  of  their  comrades  —  and  so  ended  that 
eventful  day  for  the  Irish  cause  —  leaving  an  uudefi  nable  feeling  of  uncer 
tainty  behind  it,  such  as  the  club-men  had  not  hitherto  experienced. 

It  was  the  ominous   "  shadow  of  coming  events." 

From  what  quarter  was  that  bodeful  shadow  cast?  It  came  not  from 
the  direction  of  "the  Castle."  It  did  not  emanate  either  from  open  or 
secret  enemies,  or  lukewarm  friends  of  the  Irish  cause.  It  came  from  the 
Council-rooms  of  the  Confederation.  The  following  passages  from  Sir  Char 
les  Gavan  Duffy's  "Four  Years  of  Irish  History,"  will  serve  to  elucidate 
the  story 

In  reference  to  the  crisis  which  Mitchel's  approaching  trial  was  sure  to 
bring,  he  says :  — 

"  In  the  Council  there  was  deep  anxiety  and  alarm.  They  felt  that  the 
Government  could  not  afford  to  be  defeated  again,  and  defeated  by  a  man 
who  had  so  often  predicted  this  disaster.  Whatever  angry  power  and  ma 
lignant  skill  could  do  to  obtain  a  verdict  was  certain  to  be  dene.  The 
question  was  how  could  it  be  averted?  To  inflame  opinion  till  it  grew 
red  hot  against  the  base  practice  of  jury-packing  might  alarm  the  class  of 
jurors  upon  whom  the  Castle  counted.  A  great  open-air  meeting  of  Confed 
erates  was  summoned  for  this  purpose,  and  the  general  body  of  citizens  called 
a  meeting  in  the  Royal  Exchange  with  a  similar  object. 

"  It  was  necessary  to  consider,  at  the  same  time,  what  was  to  be  done 
in  case  of  a  conviction.  A  small  minority  of  the  Council  thought  prepara 
tions  ought  immediately  to  be  made  for  a  rescue.  If  the  Government  could 
carry  off  a  man  who  had  so  completely  identified  himself  with  the  revolu 
tion  it  would  greatly  dishearten  the  people.  It  was  determined  to  ascertain 
the  wishes  of  the  clubs,  and  their  state  of  preparation."* 

"  Meagher  and  O'Gorinan  made  a  personal  inspection  of  the  Dublin 
clubs  with  a  view  to  determine  whether,  as  far  as  they  were  concerned  a 
rescue  was  feasible."  *  *  *  * 

"  O'Brien  and  Dillon  were  convinced  before  this  survey  of  the  clubs 
that  a  rescue  could  not  be  undertaken  without  ruin  to  the  cause.  *  *  * 


*  "  Four  Years  of  Irish  History,"  pages  594-5. 


SCRAPS   OF  HISTORY.  195 


Dillon  moved  a  resolution  to  this  effect  in  the  Council,  and  after  a  frank 
statement  of  the  case  it  encountered  no  serious  opposition." 

NOTE.  —  The  annexed  extracts  from  the  Minute  Book  of  the  Irish  Con 
federation,  are  quoted  on  pages  598-9  of  the  book  referred  to:  — 

'•  May  18.  —  Mr.  Dillon  moved  a  resolution  that  any  outbreak  or  viola 
tion  of  the  peace  on  the  occasion  of  Mr.  Mitchel's  trial  would  be  mischiev 
ous  if  not  fatal  to  the  national  cause,  and  earnestly  called  on  the  citizens 
to  refrain.  A  copy  of  this  resolution,  on  the  motion  of  O'Brien,  was  sent 
to  all  the  clubs  in  Dublin." 

''Friday,  May  19. — Mr.  Gavan  Duffy  moved  that  no  procession  of  the 
clubs  should  take  place  that  evening,  but  that  a  public  meeting  should  be 
summoned  for  Sunday  at  3  o'clock  to  protest  against  the  practice  of  jury- 
packing.  Mr.  O'Brien  opposed  a  meeting  in  the  existing  state  of  the  city, 
but  it  was  ordered  to  be  held." 

"May  20.  —  Letter  from  Mr.  O'Brien  read,  advising  that  no  public  meet 
ing  should  take  place  until  after  Mr.  Mitchel's  trial.  At  a  public  meeting  lan 
guage,  he  feared,  would  be  used  which  would  injure  tbe  Confederation  with 
out  saving  Mr.  Mitchel.  If  an  attempt  to  excite  an  outbreak  should  be 
made  by  rash  and  reckless  men,  or  by  emissaries  of  the  Government,  the 
Council  would  be  deemed  to  have  encouraged  it  if  they  invited  the  assem 
blage  of  a  large  multitude  in  the  metropolis.  As  he  was  not  prepared  to 
take  the  responsibility  of  such  a  proceeding,  and  had  remonstrated  against 
the  meeting  in  vain,  he  would  leave  town  for  a  few  days." 

The  dates  of  the  foregoing  entries  in  the  Minute  Book  are  important ; 
Mr.  Dillon's  resolution  —  copies  of  which  were  ordered  to  be  sent  to  all  the 
Dublin  clubs  —  was  passed  on  May  18  —  three  days  before  the  date  of  the 
proposed  open-air  meeting:  but  the  first  intimation  the  Swift  Club,  (and,  I 
presume,  all  the  others.)  had  of  its  purport,  was  on  the  night  of  May  23, 
—  two  days  after  the  meeting. 

It  was  on  the  latter  night  that  Mr.  Meagher,  (who,  with  Mr.  O'Gorman, 
had  been  deputed  by  the  Council  to  notify  the  clubs  of  the  hopelessness  of 
an  insurrection  at  that  juncture,)  —  undertook  to  impress  this  distasteful  con 
viction  on  the  men  who,  two  days  previously,  had  so  defiantly  braved  the 
consequences  that  O'Brien  —  whose  personal  courage  and  purity  of  motives 
none  could  question  —  recoiled  from  witnessing. 

He  fulfilled  his  disagreeable  mission  effectually  —  even  if  he  failed  to 
convince  his  astonished  and  sorely  disappointed  audience  of  the  wisdom  of 
the  Council's  policy. 

In  after  years,  Meagher   expressed  regret  for  his  action  on  that  occasion. 

And  well  he  might  see   cause  to  regret  it,  for  never,  in  all  his  eventful 


196  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

career,  did  he  feel  called  upon  for  such  an  exhibition  of  lofty  moral  cour 
age  and  devoted  self-sacrifice  at  the  call  of  duty,  as  when  he  undertook  to 
dash  down  the  hopes  and  chill  the  hearts  of  those  trusting  enthusiasts  — 
whose  life-blood  would  be  freely  shed  in  following  him  to  the  rescue  of 
John  Mitchel. 

What  teas  facing  "  Marye's  Heights"  to  this? 

Did  the  club-men  blame  him  for  the  course  he  adopted?  No!  for  they 
felt  convinced  in  their  souls,  that  the  more  "  prudent "  members  of  the 
Council  —  knowing  full  well  his  influence  with  the  people,  and  that  he, 
singly,  could  lead  the  masses  into  insurrection  in  spite  of  their  united  oppo 
sition —  had  thrown  the  responsibility  for  the  result  of  an  outbreak  on  him 
—  when  he,  by  yielding  to  their  appeal,  could  prevent  a  probable  national 
calamity. 

These  club-men  would  not,  against  their  own  convictions,  imperil  the 
success  of  the  national  cause  because  of  their  personal  admiration  for  John 
Mitchel.  But  they  looked  upon  his  liberty  as  being  so  closely  connected 
with  that  of  Ireland  that  the  achievement  of  the  one  object  would  insure 
that  of  the  other  —  and  to  attain  both  they  deemed  the  boldest  policy  the 
wisest  —  under  existing  circumstances.  These  enthusiasts  did  not  base  their 
success  on  tangible  material  forces  alone;  they  had  faith  in  the  God-given 
impulses  which  inspired  their  souls  to  dare  achievements  above  the  com 
prehension  of  men  of  more  reflective  minds  —  and  colder  blood. 


CHAPTER   XXXVI. 

CONSTITUTIONAL  CONSPIEATOES. 

They  smote  us  with  the  sorcerer's  oath,  and  with  the  murderer's  knife.— DUFST. 

THOUGH,  for  some  yet  unexplained  reason,  the  Dublin  clubs  were,  for 
lays  after  its  adoption,  kept  in  ignorance  of  the  Council's  "resolution''  to 
seep  the  peace  in  the  event  of  John  Mitchel  being  convicted  by  a  packed 
fury,  the  Castle  authorities  were  not. 

Through    one    of    their    paid    spies  —  a    member    of    the    Council,  —  whose 


CONSTITUTIONAL   CONSPIRATORS.  197 

identity  was  not  revealed  till  long  after,*  they  were  regularly  informed  ol 
all  that  transpired  at  its  meetings.  Therefore,  Lord  Clarendon  well  knew 
that  neither  his  armed  butchers,  or  subsidized  perjurers  had  more  to  fear 
from  the  notoriously  disaffected  party  who  constituted  the  imposing  display 
of  physical  force  on  the  Sunday  preceding  Mitchel's  trial,  than  if  it  was  a 
pack  of  muzzled  wolf-hounds  straining  at  the  leash.  While  as  to  the  re 
sounding  warnings  emanating  from  the  "  indignant  citizens,''  who  met  in  the 
Royal  Exchange  under  the  presidency  of  their  Lord  Mayor,  —  he  regarded 
them  with  as  much  complaisant  indifference  as  he  would  the  bleatings  of  a 
flock  of  sheep  led  by  its  antiquated  bell-wether. 

It  was  true  that,  according  to  the  "Treason-Felony  Act"  —  lately  pass 
ed  to  enable  him  to  maintain  his  jeopardized  position  in  Ireland,  there  could 
be  no  possible  doubt  entertained  of  Mitchel's  having  violated  the  "law"  — 
both  before  and  after  the  passage  of  the  said  statute.  There  was  every 
probability  even,  that,  so  far  from  attempting  to  ddny  his  guilt  when  on 
trial,  the  contumacious  offender  would  glory  in  the  act,  and,  in  open  court, 
defy  and  scoff  at  him,  Lord  Clarendon,  Her  Majesty's  Viceregent,  and  dare 
him  to  do  his  worst.  But  then,  neither  the  "  law "  nor  the  "  facts "  could 
be  re iied  upon  for  a  conviction  in  view  of  the  well-founded  belief  that  the 
disloyalty  of  the  accused  was  shared  in  by  an  overwhelming  majority  of  his 
fellow-countrymen,  who  had  good  reason  to  consider  -'British  law"  and 
"British  tyranny"  synonymous  terms,  when  dealing  with  political  offenders. 
Therefore,  if  he  would  wreak  his  vengeance  on  this  arch-conspirator, 
against  foreign  rule,  and  strike  a  wholesome  terror  into  the  hearts  of  his 
associates,  it  was  absolutely  necessary  that  none  but  a  well  authenticated 
enemy  of  John  Mitchel's  principles  should  be  found  upon  the  jury  empan 
elled  to  try  him. 

The  Sheriff,  an  officer  appointed  by  the  Government,  and  who  had  the 
selection  of  the  panel  from  which  the  jury  was  to  be  taken,  was  duly  no 
tified  of  what  was  expected  from  him. 

*  This  scoundrel  was,  with  good  reason,  believed  to  be  no  other  than  "  Balfe,"  one 
of  Clarendon's  vilest  tools,  who,  under  the  title  of  "  Peter  O'Oarroll,"  contributed  ultra- 
revolutionary  articles  to  some  of  the  popular  journals,  and,  at  the  same  time,  supplied 
the  Castle  organs  with  some  of  their  most  scurrilous  anonymous  llbe's  on  the  national 
leaders.  When  his  work  in  Ireland  was  done,  he  had  his  reward  comment urate  with  his 
valuable  services  to  Her  Majesty's  Government.  He  was  sent  to  Van  Dleman's  Land, 
where  he  received  a  large  tract  of  land,  together  with  the  well-paid  positions  of  Deputy- 
Assistant  Comptroller  of  Convicts,  and  Justice  of  the  Peace.  He  also  was  editor  and  pro 
prietor  of  the  government  "organ,"  the  "  Hobart  town  Advertizer,"  and  as  such,  continued, 
In  the  colony,  the  carter  he  had  commenced  in  Iieland.  He  has  joined  his  "mastsr"  long 
•luce. 


193  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEB. 

1st.    It  was  essentially  necessary  that   No   ROMAN  CATHOLIC  should  serve 
on  the  jury. 

Now,  it  was  notorious  that  many  of  the  bitterest  political  enemies  of 
John  Mitchel,  and  the  most  subservient  toadies  to  English  supremacy  in  Dub 
lin  at  the  time,  were  Roman  Catholics.  Some  of  these  slaves  —  members  of 
the  City  Council  —  subsequently  vaunted  their  infamy  by  passing,  in  their 
official  capacity,  a  vote  of  thanks  to  this  same  Lord  Clarendon  for  his  ser 
vices  in  maintaining  British  rule  in  Ireland,  and  his  wise  and  merciful  man 
ner  in  dealing  with  the  disturbers  of  law  and  order  in  the  past  crisis.  But 
the  wily  old  suborner  would  take  no  chances  in  this  case,  and  so  his  or 
ders  to  exclude  all  the  members  of  the  suspected  creed  were  peremptory. 

The  accommodating  Sheriff  wa*  equal  to  the  call  on  his  resources  for 
trickery,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  annexed  account  of  his  business  methods. 

1st.  The  list  of  qualified  jurors  in  Dublin  at  that  time  contained  in  all, 
four  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy  names;  of  which  number  two  thou 
sand  nine  hundred  and  thirty-five  were  Catholics,  and  one  thousand  six 
hundred  and  thirty-five  were  Protestants  of  various  denominations. 

2nd.  Out  of  this  list  the  Sheriff  selected  one  hundred  and  fifty  persons 
to  serve  as  jurors  at  the  Commission,  and  amongst  those  one  hundred  and 
fifty  there  were  only  twenty-eight  Catholics. 

(Thus,  on  the  juror's  book,  there  were  nearly  TWO  Catholics  to  ONE 
Protestant.  On  the  panel  selected  from  that  book  there  was  not  ONE  Cath 
olic  for  every  FOUR  Protestants.) 

3rd.  Again,  amongst  the  first  eighty  there  were  only  eight  Catholics  — 
the  other  twenty  being  distributed  among  the  last  seventy  names. 

4th.  As  if  to  "make  assurance  doubly  sure"  among  the  first  twenty- 
eight  names  there  appeared  but  one  Catholic. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  when  the  Crown-Solicitor  made  his 
objections  to  all  but  those  on  whose  services  he  could  rely,  there  was  not 
a  single  Catholic  or  Protestant  of  doubtful  "loyalty"  left  on  John  Mitchel'B 
jury. 

As  the  names  of  these  chosen  "  babes  of  grace "  deserve  all  the  publi 
city  that  can  be  accorded  them  in  connection  with  this  history,  they  are 
appended  here. 

John  Whitty,  Halwood   Clarke, 

William  Fletcher,  Richard  Yoakely, 

Robert  Thomas,  Edward  Rothwell, 

William  Horatio  Nelson,  Jason  Sherwood, 

Frederic  Rambaut,  Thomas  Bridgeford, 

William   Mansfield,  John  Collier. 


THE  *•' FELON"  199 


Not  an  individual  of  Celtic  extraction  among  them.  So  much  to  the 
credit  of  the  "old  stock."  "The  list  of  their  names," — as  Mr.  Duffy  point 
ed  out  —  "reads  like  the  muster-roll  of  one  of  Cromwell's  regiments.''  Well 
worthy  were  they  of  their  murderous  prototypes.  They  did  their  allotted 
work  as  effectively  —  and  as  remorselessly.  May  their  respective  rewards  be 
commensurate  to  all  eternity. 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 


THE   "FELON." 

"  He  pointed  out  the  path  to  each 

O'er  tyrant's  necks  and  thrones  to  reach 

To  Nationhood  —  then,  In  the   breach 

He  took  the  foremost  stand; 
But  ye,  for  whom  he'd  gladly  bleed, 
Abandoned  him  in  all  his  need, 
And  ttruck  no  blow  that  would  have  free'd 

Him  —  and  your  native  land." 

MEMORIES  OF  THE  DAT.  —  A  CONTRAST. 

THE  27TH  OF  MAT  constitutes  a  memorable  date  in  Irish  revolutionary 
annals.  In  1798,  it  heralded  the  opening  of  the  campaign  which,  in  little 
more  than  a  week,  cleared  Wexford  of  King  George's  butchers  from  Mount 
Leinster  to  Cahore,  and  from  Croghan-Kinsella  to  Sliabhcoilte. 

On  that  blessed  Whitsunday  morning  the  Spirit  of  Liberty  descended  on 
Oulart  Hill,  and  fired  the  hearts  of  her  humble  votaries  assembled  thereon 
under  the  command  of  their  courageous  priest  —  Father  John  Murphy  —  of 
immortal  memory.  Only  the  day  before  these  men,  priest  and  flock,  were, 
to  all  appearance,  little  better  than  crouching  slaves  passively  submitting  to 
all  the  outrages  which  their  barbarous  persecutors  choose  to  inflict,  unul, 
driven  to  desperation  by  the  culminating  atrocity  —  the  burning  of  the  chapel 
of  Boolavogue  —  they  were  suddenly  transformed  into  God-inspired  freemen, 
determined  to  avenge  their  violated  homes  and  desecrated  altars,  and  on  lift 
ing  up  their  trampled  country  to  the  position  she  was  accorded  by  the 
Creator. 

Imbued    with    this    unanimity    of    spirit,     they    were    no    longer    a    mere 


200  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEB. 

mob.  Though  they  were  but  rudely  armed,  and  had  no  leaders  versed  in 
even  the  rudiments  of  military  sciei.ce,  yet  if,  as  in  the  work  immediately 
before  them,  "  discipline "  consisted  iu  having  every  man  cognizant  of  his 
leader's  purpose,  and  of  feeling  both  able  and  determined  to  execute  his 
commands  to  the  letter;  if  it  meant  that  each  individual  in  that  "Rebel" 
muster  was  animated  by  the  common  resolve  to  find  the  most  direct  road 
for  his  weapon  to  his  enemy's  heart  —  then  those  men  on  Oulart  Hill  were 
not  altogether  "undisciplined"  —  as  their  vaunting  enemies  found  to  their 
cost  on  that  27th  of  May,  1798. 

•'We  are  heirs  of  their  rivers,  their  sea,  and  their  land, — 

Our  sky  and  our  mountains  as  grand. 
We  are  heirs  —  Oh !  we're  KOT  —  of  their  heart  and  their  hand ; 

AS    TRUAQH    GAN    OIDHIR    'N-A    BH  FARRADH  !  "* 

Bitter  was  the  reflection  that  found  utterance  in  the  foregoing  heart- 
scalding  exclamation  —  and  bitter  the  occasion  that  evoked  it. 

Half  a  century  had  flown  by  since  that  memorable  Whitsunday  on  Oulart 
Hill.  Half  a  century  of  sorrow  and  suffering  for  Ireland;  of  periodic  fam 
ines,  and  fevers;  of  wholesale  evictions,  and  comprehensive  coercion  acts; 
of  police  massacres  and  judicial  murders ;  of  poor-house  bastiles,  and  floating 
charnal-houses ;  of  begging  petitions,  and  parliament ary  agitations;  and,  (save 
the  tragical  episode  of  1803.)  of  what  men  with  red  blood  in  their  veins 
might  well  designate  —  "  national  catalepsy." 

The  scene,  too,  is  changed.  From  that  pike-bristling  eminence  overlook 
ing  the  flowery  valley  of  the  Slaney,  I  would  recall  the  student  of  Irish 
history  on  this  27th  of  May,  1848,  to  the  heart  of  the  Irish  metropolis. 
Before  us  frowns  a  sombre  pile,  dingy  and  repulsive,  with  grated  windows, 
and  loop-holed  walls.  This  is  Newgate  —  Dublin's  "Bastile."' 

On  every  side  its  approaches  are  jealously  guarded  by  triple  lines  of 
armed  men  —  police,  infantry,  carbineers  and  lancers  —  all  with  vengeful  ex 
ultation  in  their  looks,  and  murder  in  their  hearts.  Outside  this  cordon, 
dense  masses  of  the  populace  throng  the  streets  and  the  adjacent  quays  — 
like  their  countrymen  on  that  fated  hill  with  lowering  brows  and  compressed 
lips, —  but  alas!  without  the  armed  hands,  the  determined  looks,  or  the  united 
resolve  which  characterized  those  countrymen  when  confronting  their  foes  — 
fifty  years  before. 

And    yet    those    downcast    citizens    of    Dublin    were  neither  cowardly   nor 


*"'Tis  pity  there's  no  heir  to  their  company!" 


THE    "FELOX."  201 


altogether  unprepared  to  assert  their  claim  to  manhood ;  though,  three  months 
previously,  they  were  considered  to  be  the  least  fitted  for  fighting  of  any 
civic  population  in  Europe  —  outside  Great  Britain.  Nor  was  this  to  be  won 
dered  at — though  they  came  from  a  fighting  old  race;  for,  from  their 
childhood,  most  of  them  had  been  as  accustomed  to  look  with  awe  upon 
that  incarnation  of  '-law  and  order" — the  city  policeman  —  as  the  veriest 
Cockney  that  drew  breath  in  the  atmosphere  of  flunkeyism  and  fog.  Most 
of  them  had  heard  or  read  of  "Lord  Edward's"  gallant  life-and-death- 
struggle  with  the  Castle  assassins  in  Thomas  street;  some  of  them  could 
even  show  the  enquiring  stranger  the  house  in  which  it  took  place.  They 
could  also  point  out  the  locality  of  Robert  Emmet's  arsenal,  and  guide  the 
reverential  worshipper  at  Liberty's  shrine  to  the  spot  near  Catherine's  Church, 
where  the  dogs  lapped  the  young  patriot-martyr's  blood. 

But  as  for  drawing  trigger  or  lifting  pike  themselves, — except,  perhaps, 
in  the  misty  future,  —  these  worthy  citizens  had  no  more  notion,  three 
months  previously,  than  the  poor  peasants  had  of  sweeping  Wexford  three 
months  before  that  day  on  Oulart  Hill.  And  yet,  at  the  very  moment  when 
they  stood  around  that  jail  —  irresolute,  gloomy  and  hopeless  —  these  men 
had  more  weapons  within  reach,  and  more  strong  and  willing  arms  to  wield 
them,  than  either  Lord  Edward  or  Emmet  could  command  within  the  bounds 
of  Dublin.  And  this  change  in  public  sentiment  had  been  wrought,  and 
these  arms  procured,  chiefly  through  the  teaching  and  example  of  one  ear 
nest,  resolute  man ;  he,  who  at  this  present  moment,  stood  inside  those  grim 
walls  —  the  manacled  victim  of  England's  ruffian  laws. 

One  week  ago  these  scowling  men,  who  now  ground  their  teeth  in  idle 
impotency,  would  have  enthusiastically  dashed,  pike  in  hand,  through  those 
armed  lines  to  his  rescue.  What  has  wrought  the  change  that  has  suddenly 
paralized  them?  But  there  is  no  need  to  repeat  here  the  story — suffice  it 
to  say  —  it  was  net  fear  of  the  enemy.  Further  on,  the  people  shall  be 
vindicated  by  the  one  —  who  above  all  others,  was  best  qualified  by  personal 
acquaintance  with  the  facts  to  do  them  justice. 

Let  us  now  take  a  glance  at  the  last  act  of  the  drama  then  being  rep 
resented  inside  Newgate's  walls.  It  cannot  be  too  often  brought  before  the 
gaze  of  Irishmen,  or  men  with  a  particle  of  Irish  blood  in  their  veins,  or 
Irish  feeling  in  their  hearts. 

The  verdict  had  been  given  as  directed  —  on  the  previous  evening;  it  only 
remained  to  go  through  the  formality  of  passing  sentence. 

'•Amid  a  dead  silence  in  the  crowded  court  a  voice  from  the  bench 
vociferated  —  'Jailor  put  forward  JOHN  MITCHEL.'" 

"A   grating    of    bolts  — a    rustling   of    chains  —  were  heard.     The  door  at 


2:2  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN,   THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHEB. 

the    back    of    the    dock  opened,   and,   between  two  turnkeys,   Mitchel  entered. 

''Ascending  to  the  front  of  the  dock,  he  looked  calmly  around,  saluted 
some  of  his  friends,  and  then  directed  his  eyes  to  the  court. 

'•After  some  preliminary  forms,  the  clerk  of  the  crown  asked  'if  Mr. 
Mitchel  had  anything  to  say  why  judgment  should  not  be  passed  upon 
him?'" 

JOHN  MITCHEL'S  SPEECH  m  THE  DOCK. 

"  I  HAVE,"  he  answered,  and  after  a  momentary  look  at  judges,  jury- 
box  and  sheriff,  he  slowly  continued :  — 

"I  HAVE  TO  SAY  THAT  I  HAVE  BEEN  TRIED  BT  A  PACKED  JURY  —  BY 
THE  JURY  OF  A  PARTIZAN  SHERIFF  —  BY  A  JURY  NOT  EMPANELLED  ACCORD 
ING  TO  THE  LAW  OF  ENGLAND.  I  HAVE  BEEN  FOUND  GUILTY  BY  A  PACK 
ED  JURY,  OBTAINED  BY  A  JUGGLE  —  A  JURY  NOT  EMPANELLED  BY  A  SHERIFF, 
BUT  BY  A  JUGGLER.  THAT  IS  THE  REASON  WHY  I  OBJECT  TO  THE  SEN 
TENCE  BEING  PASSED  UPON  ME." 

(The  sentence  was  passed,  however.  Baron  Lefroy,  after  a  lengthy 
lecture  on  the  enormity  of  the  prisoner's  crime,  winding  up  his  canting 
homily  by  stating  that — "taking  into  consideration  that  this  is  the  first 
conviction  under  the  act  —  though  the  offence  has  been  as  clearly  proved 
as  any  offence  of  the  kind  could  be  —  the  sentence  of  the  Court  is  —  that 
you  be  transported  beyond  the  seas  for  the  term  of  FOURTEEN  YEARS.'') 

When  the  murmurs  of  indignation,  which  the  severity  of  the  sentence 
called  lorth,  had  been  suppressed  by  the  sheriff — 

Mr.  Mitchel.  in  a  clear,  firm,  and  manly  voice,  then  spoke  as  follows, 
amidst  a  solemn  hush  of  breathless  expectation :  — 

•'  The  law  has  now  done  its  part,  and  the  Queen  of  England,  her  Crown 
and  Government  in  Ireland,  are  now  secure,  pursuant  to  Act  of  Parliament. 
1  have  done  my  part  also.  Three  months  ago  I  promised  Lord  Clarendon, 
and  his  government  in  this  country,  that  1  would  provoke  him  into  his 
Courts  of  Justice  —  as  places  of  this  kind  are  called  —  and  that  I  would 
force  him  publicly  and  notoriously  to  pack  a  jury  against  me  to  convict 
me,  or  else  that  I  would  walk  out  a  free  man  from  this  dock,  to  meet 
him  in  another  field.  My  Lord.  I  knew  I  was  setting  my  life  on  that  cast; 
but  J  warned  him  that  in  either  event  the  victory  would  be  with  me,  and 


THE  "FELON."  203 


the  victory  is  with  me.  Neither  the  jury,  nor  the  judges,  nor  any  other 
man  in  this  court,  presumes  to  imagine  that  it  is  a  criminal  who  stands  in 
this  dock.  I  have  kept  my  word.  I  have  shown  what  the  law  is  made  of 
in  Ireland.  I  have  shown  that  Her  Majesty's  .government  sustains  itself  in 
Ireland  by  packed  juries,  by  partizan  judges,  by  perjured  sheriffs " 

(Here  he  was  interrupted  by  Judge  Lefroy,   and  again  continued )  — 

"I  have  acted  all  through  this  business  from  the  first,  under  a  strong 
sense  of  duty.  I  do  not  repent  anything  I  have  done;  and  I  believe  that 
the  course  which  I  have  opened  is  only  commenced.  The  Roman  who  saw 
his  hand  burning  to  ashes  before  the  tyrant  promised  that  three  hundred 
should  follow  out  his  enterprise.  Can  I  not  promise  for  one,  for  two,  for 
three,  aye  for  hundreds?" 

Here  he  pointed  to  his  friends  Reilly,   Meagher  and  Martin 

A  burst  of  wild  enthusiasm  followed,  several  of  those  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  dock  crying,  with  arms  outstretched — "Yes,  Mitchel,  for 
thousands,"  and  u  Promise  for  me." 

The  words  were  repeated  in  rapid  succession;  they  rang  from  the  mem 
bers  of  the  bar,  from  the  body  of  the  court,  and  from  the  occupants  of  the 
galleries,  until  it  seemed  as  if  the  whole  auditory,  inspired  by  the  heroism 
of  the  man,  vied  to  see  who  would  be  the  first  to  give  him  a  pledge  that 
his  sacrifice  would  not  be  in  vain. 

Baron  Lefroy,  frightened  at  this  manifestation  of  popular  feeling,  excit 
edly  screamed  out  — 

"Officer!   officer!   remove  Mr.   Mitchel." 

"Two  turnkeys  thereupon  laid  hold  of  the  prisoner,  and  proceeded  to 
force  him  through  the  door-way  in  the  rear.  Then  the  excitement  became 
indescribable.  Mitchel's  friends  and  members  of  counsel  rushed  over  tables 
and  benches  to  bid  farewell  to  the  gallant-hearted  man  who  alone  stood 
unmoved  and  undaunted,  the  chief  actor  in  a  scene  which  generations  yet 
unborn  will  carry  the  recollection  of  in  their  heart  of  hearts.  The  sheriff 
seemed  petrified.  The  judges,  gathering  their  petticoats  about  them,  fled,  in 
panic  and  terror,  from  the  bench.  The  Police  Inspectors  shouted  "  Seize  that 
man !  seize  that  man ! "  and  Meagher  and  Doheny  were  pounced  upon,  with 
some  other  of  the  more  demonstrative  sympathizers  of  the  "  Felon,"  who 
meanwhile  disappeared  on  the  way  to  his  underground  cell;  the  bolts  grated, 
the  door  slammed,  and  the  scene  closed." 


204  MEMOIES  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

The  judges  returned  to  the  bench  pale  and  agitated,  with  convulsed  faces 
and  shrunken  hearts,  and,  after  the  excitement  had  calmed  down,  the  par 
ties  arrested  were  released. 

On  that  evening,  at  four  o'clock,  the  convict-van  drew  up  at  the  front 
entrance  to  Newgate,  and  was  immediately  surrounded  by  two  squadrons  of 
dragoons  and  a  body  of  mounted  police,  who,  with  drawn  sabres,  formed 
four  deep  around  the  vehicle.  In  a  xfew  minutes  the  prison  gates  were 
opened  and  Mr.  Mitchel,  with  a  firm  step  and  unnerved  demeanor,  came 
forth,  escorted  by  some  prison  officials.  His  hand  and  right  leg  were  hea 
vily  manacled  and  fastened  to  each  other  by  a  ponderous  iron  chain,  lie 
cast  a  quiet  glance  around,  at  the  guard  with  their  drawn  swords  and  ma 
levolent  looks,  and  at  the  crowd  of  anguished,  grief-stricken  faces,  motion 
less  and  bloodless  as  statues,  in  the  rear.  He  was  then  assisted  into  the 
van,  the  door  was  banged  to,  and  the  cavalcade  set  forward  at  a  gallop,  dash 
ing  through  the  crowd  of  frenzied,  powerless,  spectators — and  one  ruffian 
shouting,  ezultingly.  in  my  hearing,  as  he  waved  his  sabre  over  his  head  — 

"We  have  him  at  last,  by  G— d!" 

"May  the  devil  have  you!"  was  the  spontaneous  response  from  a  hun 
dred  vengeful  hearts. 

The  Sheerwater  steamer  was  lying  in  readiness  off  the  North-wall,  and 
thither  the  van  and  its  escort  proceeded  at  a  rapid  pace  through  the  inter 
vening  streets,  followed  by  the  mingled  lamentations  and  maledictions  of  the 
populace.  Some  hundreds  of  those  who  crowded  around  Newgate  to  catch 
one  more  glimpse  of  their  devoted  patriot,  set  off  by  shorter  routes  towards 
the  embarking  point,  —  clinging  to  the  forlorn  hope  that,  perhaps,  at  the 
last  moment,  some  fortuitous  turn  of  affairs  might  afford  an  opportunity 
for  a  rescue.  But  though  they  gained  their  position  before  the  police  closed 
the  bridges  across  the  customhouse-docks,  it  was  only  to  have  the  mournful 
sati  faction  of  seeing  John  Mitchel  step  from  the  land  of  his  birth  and  love 
on  "board  the  boat  that  conveyed  him  to  the  dark-hulle.i  vessel  from  which 
a  column  of  smoke  was  ascending  dense  and  black  —  as  the  cloud  that  then 
overshadowed  the  hopes  which  his  glowing  spirit  had  enkindled. 

The  immediate  fruits  of  the  victory  on  Oulart  Hill  were  subsequently 
lost,  in  reverses  against  which  the  heroic  courage  of  unskilled  and  poorly- 
armed  peasants  could  not  cope.  But  the  fame  of  those  devoted  martyrs  of 
liberty  —  like  the  cause  for  which  they  died  —  is  immortal.  That  cause  sank 
in  their  blood,  for  the  time;  but,  as,  two  generations  later,  the  flag  that 
typified  it,  was,  once  more,  uplifted  by  John  Mitchel  —  an  incentive  to  friends 
and  defiance  to  foes;  so  the  doctrines  he  inculcated,  and  the  example  he 


EFFECT   OF  NITCffEX?a  TRANSfQETA'TIOlL  205 

set  in  the  "  Felon's  Dock,"  shall  never  be  forgotten  white  <m  this  tmaai  earth 
there   breathes  one  true  scion  of  the  Irish  race. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

IMMEDIATE  EFFECT  OF  MITCHEL'S  TRANSPORTATION  —  MEAGHER'S 
VINDICATION  OF  THE  CLUBS. 

We  have  bent  and  borne,  though  we  saw  him  tor 
From  Ma  home  by  the  tyrant's  crew.  —  DAVIS. 

THOUGH  the  majority  of  the  Dublin  Confederates  were  aoreJy  disap 
pointed  at  the  action  of  the  Council  in  restraining  them  from  attempting  a 
rescue;  and,  though  they  felt  mortified  at  the  false  position  in  which  their 
inaction  at  that  crisis  placed  them  before  their  fellow-countrymen  through 
out  the  island,  yet  they  were  not  the  less  determined  to  persevere  to  the 
end  in  the  course  which  their  banished  leader  had  pointed  out  as  the  only 
true  way  to  the  goal  of  their  ambition  —  National  Independence.  In  accord 
ance  with  this  resolution  they  proceeded  with  redoubled  energy  to  extend 
their  club  organizations,  and  with  such  success,  that,  within  the  next  six 
weeks,  their  numerical  strength  within  the  city  limits  was  more  than  doubled, 
and  their  progress  in  arming  the  enrolled  members  was  equally  encour 
aging. 

Throughout  the  Provinces,  and  more  especially  in  Munster,  the  deporta 
tion  of  John  Mitchel  had  a  more  marked  effect  than  even  in  the  Metropolis. 
It  made  the  name  of  the  patriot-martyr  a  synonym  of  Liberty  in  thousands 
of  homesteads  where  he  was  scarcely  heard  of  before  his  trial.  It  did  more 
to  heartily  unite  the  hitherto  partially-reconciled  elements  of  the  old  Repeal 
organization  than  all  the  efforts  of  their  most  popular  orators  had  been  able 
to  accomplish.  It  silenced  (for  a  time)  the  out-spoken  opposition,  or  whis 
pered  suspicions  of  some  sneaking  "  wolves  in  sheep's  clothing,"  who  habit 
ually  had  denounced  O'Brien,  Mitchel,  and  their  friends  as  "  paid  spies  sent 
out  by  the  Castle  to  entrap  the  unwary;"  and,  most  encouraging  sign  of 
all,  it  roused  the  fighting  element  to  the  urgent  necessity  for  organizing 
and  arming  —  which  resulted  in  a  wide-spread  ramification  of  clubs  from 
various  revolutionary  centres,  and  in  the  manufacture  of  pikes  by  day  and 


206  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

night, — in  sentinel-guarded  forges  throughout  the  sphere  of  these  club-men's 
influence. 

In  the  meantime,  a  most  onerous  duty  devolved  on  the  Council  of  the 
Confederation.  The  most  conspicuous  members  thereof  felt  themselves  placed 
in  a  critical  position.  By  their  past  offences  against  the  government  they 
were  amenable  to  Mitchel's  fate  at  any  moment  it  suited  the  Castle  author 
ities  to  select  fresh  victims.  It  behooved  them,  therefore,  to  be  cautious, 
and  not,  unnecessarily,  provoke  the  enemy  to  force  them  to  a  conflict  for 
which  they  felt  unprepared.  They  accordingly,  came  to  the  resolution  that 
there  should  be  no  more  public  street-parades  of  the  clubs  unless  specially 
ordered  by  the  Council.  They  likewise  thought  it  advisable  to  reorganize 
the  Council  itself.  It  was  too  unwieldy  for  practical  work  —  involving  neces 
sary  secrecy,  and  they  wished  to  reduce  it  to  a  convenient  number  of  men 
—  Doth  determined  and  trustworthy. 

This  plan  would  also  enable  them  to  get  rid  of  some  parties  who  were 
suspected  of  being  government  spies.  (They  were  convinced  there  was,  at 
least,  one  such  amongst  them,  >>ut  could  not  positively  identify  the  traitor). 

The  new  Council  was  to  be  limited  to  twenty-one,  and  was  to  be  voted 
for  by  the  existing  body,  and  not,  as  on  former  occasions,  by  the  Confed 
eration  at  large.  The  voting  was  by  ballot,  and  the  following  were  elected. 
The  number  of  votes  each  received  are  appended  to  their  names,  and  afford 
a  fair  criterion  of  their  relative"  popularity  with  the  Confederation  at  large, 
as  well  as  with  their  associates  on  the  old  Council: 


VOTES. 

VOTES.                                                     VOTES. 

Thos.  Francis  Meagher, 

31 

P.  J.  Smith, 

28 

M.  J.  Barry, 

18 

Father  John  Kenyon, 

31 

John  Martin, 

25 

E.  D.  Williams, 

18 

Wm.  S.  O'Brien, 

30 

Michael  Doheny, 

25 

John  Byrne, 

15 

Charles  Gavan  Duffy, 

30 

Dr.  Kane, 

23 

B.  Dowling, 

14 

John  Dillon, 

30 

James  Cantwell, 

21 

Michael  Crean, 

14 

Kichard  O'Gorman, 

30 

Denny  Lane, 

19 

John  Rumor, 

12 

Frank  Morgan, 

29 

(John  Barry  and  Daniel  Griffin,  who  were  elected  without  their  consent, 
never  acted  on  the  Council). 

One  of  the  first  measures  taken  by  the  newly  elected  Council  was  the 
calling  of  a  public  meeting  for  the  purpose  of  justifying  the  course  adopt 
ed  in  reference  to  John  Mitchel.  The  meeting  was  held  in  the  Music  Hall, 
early  in  June,  and  was  attended  by  such  of  the  clubmen  as  could  find 
room  in  the  building,  —  though,  in  accordance  with  the  orders  of  the  Coun 
cil,  they  did  not  march  in  procession  as  heretofore. 


VINDICATION  OF  THE   CLUBS.  207 

As  Meagher  was  the  chief  instrument  of  the  Council  in  restraining  the 
clubs  from  attempting  Mitchel's  rescue,  so  on  him  it  principally  devolved 
to  justify  the  necessity  of  the  policy  then  pursued.  His  speech  on  the  occa 
sion  was  one  of  the  most  touchingly  eloquent  he  ever  delivered.  Never  did 
he  so  move  the  sensibilities  of  his  hearers;  but.  whether  he  was  as  success 
ful  in  convincing  their  reason,  as  to  the  wisdom  of  the  course  he  defended, 
I  am  not  prepared  to  assert  with  confidence.  Judging  from  my  own  impres 
sions,  at  the  time,  he  did  not,  —  though  not  one  present  more  thoroughly 
sympathized  with  him,  in  his  grief  for  the  sacrifice  of  his  beloved  compa 
triot,  or  more  admired  his  generous  self-sacrifice  in  assuming  the  chief  res 
ponsibility  for  the  course  —  which,  I  verily  believed,  he  was  impelled  to  by 
others  —  against  his  own  feelings  and  convictions. 

In  a  few  incisive  sentences  he  addressed  himself  directly  to  the  subject 
which  permeated  every  heart  in  the  assembly,  —  and  gave  expression  to  the 
feelings  that  swayed  them  all. 

"  We  are  no  longer  masters  of  our  lives.  They  belong  to  our  country, 
—  to  liberty,  —  to  vengeance.  Upon  the  walls  of  Newgate  a  fettered  hand 
has  inscribed  this  destiny. 

11  We   shall  be  the  martyrs  or  the  rulers  of  a  revolution. 

•'Once  again  they  shall  have  to  pack  their  jury-box;  once  again  exhibit 
to  the  world  the  frauds  and  mockeries,  the  tricks  and  perjuries,  upon  which 
their  power  is  based." 

Referring  to  the  feelings  of  disappointment,  humiliation  and  depression 
consequent  on  the  unexpected  decision  of  the  Council  in  the  emergency 
forced  upon  them,  he  proceeded  to  explain  the  motives  which  led  to  their 
decision,  and  to  accept  his  full  share  of  the  responsibility:  — 

"In  those  feelings  of  depression  and  shame  I  deeply  share;  and  from 
the  mistrust  with  which  some  of  you,  at  least,  may  regard  the  members  of 
the  late  Council,  I  shall  not  hold  myself  exempt.  If  they  are  to  blame,  so 
am  I.  Between  the  hearts  of  the  people  and  the  bayonets  of  the  govern 
ment,  I  took  my  stand,  with  the  members  of  the  Council,  and  warned  back 
the  precipitate  devotion  which  scoffed  at  prudence  as  a  crime.  I  am  here 
to  answer  for  that  act.  If  you  believe  it  to  have  been  the  act  of  a  das 
tard,  treat  me  with  no  delicacy,  —  treat  me  with  no  respect.  Vindicate  your 
courage  in  the  impeachment  of  the  coward.  The  necessities  and  perils  of 
the  cause  forbid  the  interchange  of  courtesies.  Civilities  are  out  of  place 
in  the  whirl  and  tumult  of  the  tempest. 

"The  address  of  the  Council  to  the  people  of  Ireland  —  the  address  signed 
by  William  Smith  O'Brien  —  bears  witness  to  your  determination.  It  states 
that  thousands  of  Confederates  had  pledged  themselves  that  John  Mitchel 


208  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

should  not  leave  these  shores  but  through  their  blood.  We  were  bound  to 
make  this  statement  —  bound  in  justice  to  you  —  bound  in  honor  to  the  coun 
try.  Whatever  odium  may  flow  from  that  scene  of  victorious  defiance,  in 
which  the  government  played  its  part  without  a  stammer  or  a  check,  none 
falls  on  you.  You  would  have  fought,  had  we  not  seized  your  hands,  and 
bound  them. 

'•  Let  no  foul  tongue,  then,  spit  its  sarcasm  upon  the  people.  They  were 
ready  for  the  sacrifice;  and  had  the  word  been  given,  the  stars  would  burn 
this  night  above  a  thousand  crimsoned  graves.  The  guilt  is  ours;  —  let  the 
sarcasms  fall  upon  our  heads. 

"We  told  you  in  the  Clubs,  four  days  previous  to  the  trial,  the  reasons 
that  compelled  us  to  oppose  the  project  of  a  rescue.  The  concentration  of 
ten  thousand  troops  upon  the  city  —  the  incomplete  organization  of  the  peo 
ple —  the  insufficiency  of  food,  in  case  of  a  sustained  resistance  —  the  uncer 
tainty  as  to  how  far  the  country  districts  were  prepared  to  support  us  — 
these  were  the  chief  reasons  that  forced  us  into  an  antagonism  with  your 
generosity,  your  devotion,  j-our  intrepidity.  Night  after  night  we  visited 
the  Clubs,  to  know  your  sentiments,  your  determination ;  —  and  to  the  course 
we  instructed  you  to  adopt,  you  gave,  at  length,  a  reluctant  sanction. 

"  Now,  I  do  not  think  it  would  be  candid  in  me  to  conceal  the  fact, 
that  the  day  subsequent  to  the  arrest  of  John  Mitchel,  I  gave  expression 
to  sentiments  having  a  tendency  quite  opposite  to  the  advice  I  have  men 
tioned. 

"  At  a  meeting  of  the  '  Grattan  Club '  I  said  that  the  Confederation 
ought  to  come  to  the  resolution  to  resist  by  force  the  transportation  of  John 
Mitchel;  and  if  the  worst  befel  us,  the  ship  that  carried  him  away  should 
sail  upon  a  sea  of  blood.  I  said  this,  and  I  shall  not  now  conceal  it.  I 
said  this,  and  I  shall  not  shrink  from  the  reproach  of  having  acted  otherwise. 
Upon  consideration,  I  became  convinced  they  were  sentiments  which,  if  acted 
upon,  would  associate  my  name  with  the  ruin  of  the  cause.  I  felt  it  my 
duty,  therefore  to  retract  them;  —  not  to  disown,  but  to  condemn  them; 
not  to  shrink  from  the  responsibility  which  the  avowal  of  them  might 
entail,  but  to  avert  the  disaster  which  the  enforcement  of  them  would 
ensure. 

"  You  have  now  heard  all  I  have  to  say  on  that  point ;  and  with  a 
conscience  happy  in  the  thought  that  it  has  concealed  nothing,  I  shall  ex- 
ultingly  look  forward  to  an  event  —  the  shadow  of  which  already  encom 
passes  us  —  for  the  vindication  of  my  conduct,  and  the  attestation  of  my 
truth. 

"Call  me   '•Coward!'1  —  call   me   'Renegade!'    I  will  accept  these  titles  as 


VINDICATION  OF  THE   CLUBS.  209 

the  penalties  which  a  fidelity  to  my  convictions  has  imposed.  It  will  be  so 
for  a  short  time  only.  To  the  end  I  see  the  path  I  have  been  ordained  to 
walk:  and  upon  the  grave  which  closes  that  path,  I  can  read  no  coward's 
epitaph." 

It  is  unnecessary  to  observe  that  not  one  of  the  sympathetic  hearts  he 
addressed  ever  harbored  a  thought  derogatory  to  Meagher's  courage  or  loy 
alty  ;  his  confidence  in  himself  was  not  greater  than  was  their  devotion  to, 
and  trust  in  him. 

In  another  portion  of  this  noble  speech,  he  paid  the  following  affecting 
tribute  to  the  man  whose  name  was  then  a  household-word  throughout  the 
land  —  for  whose  liberty  he  sacrificed  his  own:  — 

MEAGHER  ON  MITCHEL. 

"  There  is  a  black  ship  upon  the  southern  seas  this  night.  Far  from 
his  own,  old  land — far  from  the  sea,  and  soil,  and  sky,  which,  standing 
here,  he  used  to  claim  for  you  with  all  the  pride  of  a  true  Irish  prince  — 
far  from  that  circle  of  fresh  young  hearts,  in  whose  light  and  joyousness, 
and  warmth,  his  own  drank  in  each  evening  new  life  and  vigor  —  far  from 
that  young  wife,  in  those  heart  the  kind  hand  of  heaven  has  kindled  a 
gentle  heroism,  sustained  by  which  she  looks  with  serenity  and  pride  upon 
her  widowed  home,  and  in  the  children  that  girdle  her  with  beauty,  beholds 
the  inheritors  of  a  name  which,  to  their  last  breath,  will  secure  for  them 
the  love,  the  honor,  the  blessing  of  their  country  —  far  from  these  scenes 
and  joys  —  clothed  and  fettered  as  a  felon  —  he  is  borne  to  an  island  where 
the  rich,  and  brilliant,  and  rapacious  power,  of  which  he  was  the  foe,  has 
doomed  him  to  a  dark  existence. 

"•That  sentence  shall  be  reversed  —  reversed  by  the  decree  of  a  free 
nation,  arrayed  in  arms  and  in  glory.  Till  then,  in  the  love  of  the  coun 
try,  let  the  wife  and  children  of  the  illustrious  exile  be  shielded  from 
adversity.  True,  when  he  stood  before  the  judge,  and  with  the  voice  and 
bearing  of  a  Roman,  told  him  that  three  hundred  were  prepared  to  follow 
him  —  true  it  is  that  at  that  moment  he  spoke  not  of  his  home  and  chil 
dren  —  he  thought  only  of  his  country  —  and  to  the  honor  of  her  sons 
bequeathed  the  cause  for  which  he  was  doomed  to  suffer. 

"But  in  that  one  thought  all  other  thoughts  were  embraced.  Circled 
by  the  arms  and  banners  of  a  free  people,  he  saw  his  home  secure  —  bis 
wife  joyous  —  his  children  prosperous.  This  was  the  thought  which  forbade 
his  heart  to  blench  when  he  left  these  shores  —  this  the  thought  which  calls 
up  this  night,  as  he  sleeps  within  that  prison  ship,  dreams  full  of  light 


I 

210  MEMOIES   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

and  rapturous  joy  —  this  the  thought  which  will  lighten  the  drudgery,  and 
reconcile  his  proud  heart  to  the  odious  conditions  of  his  exile. 

"Think!  oh,  think  of  that  exile  —  the  hopes,  the  longings,  which  will 
grow  each  day  more  anxious  and  impatient.  Think !  oh,  think !  of  how, 
with  throbbing  heart  and  kindling  eye,  he  will  look  out  across  the  waters 
that  imprison  him,  searching  in  the  eastern  sky  for  the  flag  which  will  an 
nounce  to  him  his  liberty,  and  the  triumph  of  sedition.* 

"  Think !  oh,  think !  of  that  day  when  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands 
will  rush  to  the  water's  edge,  as  a  distant  gun  proclaims  his  return  —  mark 
the  ship  as  it  dashes  through  the  waves  and  nears  the  shore  —  behold  him 
standing  there  upon  the  deck  —  the  same  calm,  intrepid,  noble  heart  —  his 
clear,  quick  eye  runs  along  the  shore,  and  fills  with  the  light  which  flashes 
from  the  bayonets  of  the  people  —  a  moment's  pause!  and  then,  amid  the 
roar  of  cannon,  the  fluttering  of  a  thousand  flags,  the  pealing  of  cathedral 
bells,  the  cheers  of  millions,  the  triumphant  felon  sets  his  foot  once  more 
upon  his  native  soil— hailed,  and  blessed,  and  welcomed  as  the  first  citizen 
of  our  free  and  sovereign  state." 


*In  every  particular  — save  that  most  Important  one  of  locality,  this  prophetic  des 
cription  affords  a  vivid  picture  of  the  actual  occurrences  attendant  on  Mitchel's  arrival 
In  America,  on  November  29th,  1853.  As  Meagher  stood  by  his  side  as  the  vessel  steamed 
up  New  York  Harbor,  and  heard  the  cannon  thunder  their  salvos  of  "Welcome!"  from 
Brooklyn  Heights;  MB  memory  must  have  exultlngly  recalled  that  nl«ht  of  gloom  and 
bitter  humiliation  —  when  his  hopeful  anticipation  of  the  "  FELON'S  "  glorious  future  des 
tiny  almost  succeeded  in  lifting  the  cloud  from  the  hearts  of  his  sorrowing  and  exaspe 
rated  countrymen  In  the  Music  Hall,  Dublin. 

I,  who  participated  In  both  scenes,  could  not  disassociate  them  In  my  reflections;  as 
I  felt  the  joy  of  our  day  of  triumph  enhanced  by  contrast  with  that  might  of  darkest 
mitery  and  despondency  when  I  laet  saw  Mitchel  In  our  native  land. 


EAENEST  WOEK.  211 


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 


MEETING  THE  EXIGENCY.  —  EARNEST  WORK.— JUNE,   1843. 

Gather  ALL  men  to  our  band, 
To  take  our  own  again.  — DATIS. 

EVEN  before  the  reorganization  of  the  Council  had  been  effected,  a  few 
of  the  leading  Confederates  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that,  if  they  hoped 
to  cope  successfully  with  the  government  conspirators,  it  was  high  time  for 
them  to  avail  themselves  of  every  element  of  success  within  their  reach, 
and  to  supplement  their  policy  of  "  open  and  advised  speaking "  —  by  secret 
action.  In  a  word,  they,  as  practical  revolutionists,  commenced  a  "formal 
conspiracy." 

As  the  first  authoritative  public  announcement  of  this  important  step  in 
the  history  of  the  '48  movement  was  given  by  one  of  its  initiators,  Mr. 
Duffy,  in  his  "  Four  Years  of  Irish  History,"  I  shall  here  confine  myself 
solely  to  his  account  of  the  transaction :  — 

"  An  immediate  conference  of  the  leaders  of  the  two  sections  of  the 
Confederates  was  agreed  upon,  and  then  for  the  first  time  commenced  a 
formal  conspiracy.  In  a  country  where  the  will  of  the  nation  is  accom 
plished  as  soon  as  it  is  ascertained,  conspiracy  and  insurrection  are  base 
and  wicked.  But  were  they  base  or  wicked  in  a  country  where  the  will  of 
the  people,  having  been  ascertained  beyond  all  controversy,  on  a  subject  of 
the  highest  importance  to  their  honor  and  interest,  is  counted  for  nothing? 

uAt  the  conference  Kenyon,  Martin,  and  Reilly  represented  one  section 
— Dillon,  Duffy,  and  a  gentleman  still  living  the  other.  Then  and  there, 
for  the  first  time,  measures  were  taken  to  obtain  money,  arms,  and  officers 
from  abroad,  to  make  a  diversion  in  England,  and  to  procure  the  coopera 
tion  of  the  Irish  residents  there,  and  to  prepare  particular  local  men  to 
expect  the  event.* 

•klt  was  deemed  inadvisable  to  extend  the  area  of  responsibility,  and  it 
was  agreed  to  communicate  to  certain  of  our  chief  associates  the  fact  that 
precautions  were  taken,  without  naming  the  agents  or  specifying  the  details. 


*"Four  years  of  Irish  History."    Page  603. 


212  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

O'Brien  was  at  Cahermoyle,  and  we  refrained  from  asking  him  to  share 
these  hazardous  enterprises.  Danger  we  knew  he  disregarded,  as  far  as  it 
involved  personal  consequences;  but  he  was  nervously  anxious  about  the 
safety  of  his  class,  and  we  foresaw  that  if  he  consented  to  decisive  mea« 
sures,  he  would  prepare  them  by  deliberation  so  long,  and  consultations  so 
frequent,  that  they  would  be  quite  fatal  to  promptness  of  action.  It  was  a 
secret  relief  to  men  who  loved  him,  and  made  full  allowance  for  the  pecu 
liar  difficulty  of  his  position,  that  they  could  take  this  risk  wholly  on  them 
selves.  Enough  was  said,  when  he  returned  to  Dublin,  to  keep  good  faith; 
not  enough  to  create  responsibility.  One  Confederate,  who  was  a  close  friend 
of  Dillon's,  and  another  intimately  allied  in  opinion  and  affection  with  Mar 
tin  and  Mitchel,  were  sent  as  agents  to  America.* 

"  Some  weeks  later  a  Confederate,  of  Mixed  French  and  Irish  descent, 
was  dispatched  to  Paris  on  the  same  errand. 

"Neither  of  the  agents  sent  to  the  United  States  was  accustomed  to  ad 
dress  public  meetings,  and  it  was  agreed  that  either  Father  Kenyon  or  Meagher 
should  make  a  tour  in  the  States,  and  publicly  solicit  funds  from  Irish  and 
American  sympathisers.  Father  Kenyon  had,  at  this  time,  a  contention  with 
his  bishop  respecting  some  of  his  published  opinions :  if  it  could  be  settled 
satisfactorily  he  would  be  more  useful  at  home;  if  it  could  not,  he  prom 
ised  to  undertake  this  mission.!  Meagher  was  ready  for  the  duty,  on  con 
dition  that  he  should  be  at  liberty  to  return  to  Ireland  before  the  harvest 
was  ripe." 

OVERTURES  FOR  RE-UNION.  —  THE  NATIONAL  LEAGUE. 

While  the&e  preparations  for  active  revolutionary  work  were  being  made 
by  the  leading  Confederates,  John  O'Connell —  either  impelled  by  the  logic 
of  events  which  tended  to  unite  all  earnest  Repealers  in  a  supreme  effort 
for  the  recovery  of  their  national  right  of  self-government  —  or  determined 
to  thwart  by  duplicity  a  movement  which  he  felt  powerless  to  prevent  by 
open  opposition  —  made  overtures  for  reconciliation  to  Smith  O'Brien  in  a 
letter  written  three  days  after  Mitchel's  transportation.  The  following  extract 
from  this  letter  will  serve  to  explain  its  purport :  — 

"  I    would    readily    consent    that    the    old    foundauon  —  that    dating    from 


*The  latter  of  the  two  gentlemen  referred  to  was  Mr.  William  Mitchel,  John  Mitch  el's 
brother. 

t  Father  Kenyon  r  ID  come  to  a  "  satisfactory  understanding "  with  his  bishop  at  the 
time,  and  thence  forth  took  but  little  part  In  the  revolutionary  movement. 


OVEETUEES  FOE  HE- UNION.  213 

April,  1840,  (more  than  eight  years  ago,)  should  be  the  only  one  to  be 
maintained,  and  that  no  species  of  test  save  an  honorable  understanding  of 
acquiescence  in  its  principles,  should  exist.  I  would  also  consent  to  any 
form  of  words  you  might  propose  to  exclude  place-begging,  and  also  to 
any  minor  changes  you  might  think  necessary.  All  I  ask  is  that  direct 
incentives  to  war  be  avoided;  and  this  simply  for  the  safety  of  the  Asso 
ciation." 

During  the  negociations  which  followed  betwen  the  Council  of  the  Con 
federation  and  the  Committee  of  the  Repeal  Association,  a  letter  of  Smith 
O'Brien's,  dated  ''Cahermoyie,  June  1st,"  was  read,  which  clearly  expresses 
the  views  of  his  associates  in  the  Confederation  at  large  on  the  proposed 
union.  He  said  :  — 

"I  should  deeply  regret  the  proposed  union  if  I  could  persuade  myself 
that  it  would  tend  to  check  the  bold  course  of  policy  which  has  been 
adopted,  after  full  deliberation,  by  the  Irish  Confederation.  These  appre 
hensions  have,  however,  been  removed  on  discovering  that  the  progress  of 
events  has  produced  a  much  nearer  approximation  of  feeling  and  of  opinion 
than  was  believed  to  exist  between  the  Confederates  and  the  members  of  the 
Repeal  Association.  Both  parties  now  admit  that  we  stand  upon  the  l  last 
plank '  of  the  constitution.  No  one  denies  that  Ireland  is  now  ruled  solely 
by  military  power.  The  Union  is  now  undeniably  maintained,  not  by  bonds 
of  affection  and  interest,  but  by  a  system  of  force,  fraud,  and  corruption. 
Even  our  marts  of  commerce  and  our  seats  of  learning  are  occupied  by  a 
foreign  soldiery.  Events,  events,  not  arguments,  have  cancelled  the  famous 
'peace  resolutions.'  Our  controversy  will  soon  narrow  itself  into  the  single 
question,  now  often  uttered  with  impatience  — '  When  shall  the  Irish  nation 
strike?'  Upon  this  question  we  ought  to  invite  the  deliberation  of  men  who 
are  cautious  as  well  as  resolute.  In  the  language  of  one  of  your  youthful 
poets  — 

*    *    *    *    •  Your  worst  transgression 
Weie  to  strike,  and  strike  in  vain.' 

"The  advocates  of  what  is  called  'moral  force'  tell  us —  and  I  believe 
them — that,  if  ever  it  should  become  necessary  to  vindicate  the  trampled 
rights  of  their  country  by  an  appeal  to  arms,  they  will  be  found  amongst 
the  foremost  in  the  field.  Shall  we  refuse  to  enter  into  confederacy  with 
these  men,  for  the  purpose  of  considering  how  we  can  best  concentrate  the 
national  energies  in  support  of  the  national  cause?" 

"  After  a  conference  of  several  days,  the  conditions  of  reunion  were 
finally  settled,  and  the  delegates  undertook  to  obtain  the  sanction  of  their 


214  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

respective  societies  to  them.  The  Committee  of  the  Repeal  Association 
and  the  Council  of  the  Confederation  accepted  the  terms,  and  ordered  that 
public  meetings  should  be  called  to  confirm  them."  * 

The  movement  for  reunion  was  received  with  much  satisfaction  by  the 
country.  In  the  course  of  a  week  four  bishops  and  over  two  hundred  priests 
had  given  their  adhesion  to  the  principles  of  the  League,  and  everything 
looked  favorable  to  its  speedy  success,  when  a  new  obstacle  was  interposed 
by  John  O'Connell : — he  "required  a  fortnight  for  further  consideration,  and 
to  ascertain  the  opinion  of  the  country."  It  was  granted  him  by  the  Con 
federates  —  who  devoted  the  time  to  the  organization  of  new  clubs,  as  clubs 
were  to  be  kept  separate  from  the  League,  —  but,  when  the  time  had  ex 
pired,  the  marplot  announced  that  he  "would  not  join  the  league  but  retire 
for  a  time  from  public  life."  So  he  soon  afterwards  betook  himself  to  the 
continent  —  having  first  shut  up  Conciliation  Hall. 

If  John  O'Connell's  characteristic  act  of  duplicity  was  intended  to  effect 
ually  check  and  demoralize  the  new  movement,  it  fulfilled  his  anticipations, 
for,  it  not  only  spread  doubt  and  confusion  where  mutual  confidence  and 
hearty  cooperation  were  essential  elements  of  success,  but  it  afforded  the 
government  the  desired  opportunity  of  striking  while  their  enemy  was  en 
gaged  in  effecting  a  "change  of  front,"  under  critical  and  disadvantageous 
circumstances. 

The  Council  of  the  Confederation  performed  its  part  of  the  agreement. 
They  called  a  public  meeting  at  which  the  organization  was  formally  dis 
solved  for  the  purpose  of  merging  into  the  Irish  League;  but,  before  the 
new  Association  held  its  ratification  meeting,  the  Castle  authorities  took  such 
measures  as  made  its  first  meeting  its  last. 

THE  PROTESTANT  REPEAL  ASSOCIATION. 

Almost  contemporaneous  with  the  Irish  League,  the  "  Protestant  Repeal 
Association "  sprang  into  existence.  As  its  name  implies,  it  was  composed 
of  Protestants  of  national  leanings,  loyal  to  the  Crown  and  Constitution, 
but  in  favor  of  Irishmen  making  laws  for  Ireland.  Samuel  Ferguson,  the 
poet,  was  the  most  distinguished  member  of  this  organization.  It  had  a 
numerous  following  in  Dublin,  and  a  flourishing  branch  in  Belfast,  and  might 
eventually  have  grown  to  be  a  powerful  auxiliary  to  the  national  party,  in 
eradicating  religious  animosities  from  the  people's  hearts,  had  it  been  per- 


*"Four  years  of  Irish  History."    Page  616. 


THE  NATIONAL  PRESS.  215 

m it  ted    time    to    take    root    in    the    newly  tilled    soil.     But,   like    the    League, 
its  career   was  cut   short  by  the   "  Habeas   Corpus   Suspension  Act." 

THE  NATIONAL  PRESS.  —  THE  IRISH  FELON,  AND  IRISH  TRIBUNE. 

For  a  fortnight  after  Mitchel's  transportation  and  the  suppression  of  his 
paper,  "  The  United  Irishman,"  the  duty  of  maintaining  the  reputation  of 
the  Irish  national  press  was  left  solely  to  the  NATION.  And  right  nobly 
and  courageously  was  that  duty  fulfilled,  and  the  national  flag  kept  flying 
defiantly  in  the  face  of  the  enemy,  until  the  great  journal  shared  the  fate 
of  its  gallant  cotemporary  and  was  crushed,  (for  a  time,)  by  the  Castle 
banditti. 

John  Martin  and  Thomas  Devin  Reilly  had  determined  to  issue  a  suc 
cessor  to  the  "  United  Irishman^"  but,  before  their  arrangements  were  per 
fected,  the  leading  members  of  the  Student's  Club  stepped  promptly  into  the 
breach  with  a  new  revolutionary  organ  called  '"The  Irish  Tribune"  —  with 
JJichard  D' Alton  Williams,  and  Kevin  Izod  O'Doherty  as  responsible  publish 
ers.  Dr.  AntiselL,  John  Savage,  John  De  Courcy  Young  and  Walter  T. 
Meyler,  were  among  its  shareholders  and  contributors.  Michael  Doheny  and 
Stephen  J.  Meany,  also  wrote  for  it;  and  William  Carleton,  the  Irish  nov 
elist,  contributed  the  first  chapter  of  what  was  intended  to  be  a  serial  story 
—  called  "  Suil  Bator"  —  or  "The  Evil  Eye;"  but,  his  name  being  placed 
on  the  Literary  Pension  List,  most  opportunely,  by  the  government,  he, 
discreetly  withdrew  from  his  rebellious  associations,  and  awaited  less  dis 
tracting  times  for  the  publication  of  his  completed  story. 

The  first  number  of  the  "  Irish  Tribune "  appeared  on  June  10th,  and 
on  June  24th ''The  Irish  Felon "  — successor  to  "The  United  Irishman,"  was 
issued.  John  Martin  was  its  responsible  publisher.  As  his  most  efficient 
associates,  political  and  literary,  Thomas  Devin  Reilly,  James  Fenton  Lalor, 
r.nd  Joseph  Brenan  wrote  most  of  its  editorials:  while  Martin  MacDermott. 
J.  Pe  Jean  Frazer  and  "Eva"  contributed  to  its  poetical  departments.  Most 
of  the  original  contributions  were  signed  by  the  writers.  Meagher  contributed 
ote  article  on  the  "  Queen's  Visit  -to  Ireland." 

Of  those  new  "propagandists  of  revolutionary  doctrines,"  it  may  be  said 
that  — 

"  Brief,  brave,  and  glorious  was  their  young  career." 

/ 

Five  weeks  of  their  incessant  assaults  was  as  much  as  the  Government 
could  afford  to  stand,  and  so,  at  the  end  of  that  period,  the  audacious 
publishers  were  provided  with  quarters  in  Newgate  —  pending  their  trial  foi 
"  TJ  eason-Felony." 


MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEB. 


CHAPTER   XXXX. 


CASTLE  TACTICS.— MARKED  FOR  VENGEANCE. 

"And  thousrh  we  to  the  dungeon  go  — 

Where  patriots  dwelt  before; 
Yet  — in  the  cell,  or  on  the  sod, 

We're  Paddles  evermore ! " 

—  OLD  SONG. 

THE  Revolutionary  Committee  which  succeeded  the  Council  of  the  Con 
federation,  had  determined,  if  possible,  to  postpone  aggressive  action  pending 
the  ripening  of  the  harvest.  But  the  Government  was  not  disposed  to  let 
them  choose  their  own  time.  If  a  popular  rising  wa?  to,  eventually,  take 
place,  the  Castle  authorities  resolved  that  the  national  leaders,  at  all  events, 
should  be  debarred  from  participating  therein,  and  accordingly  it  was  deter 
mined  to  place  the  most  dangerous  among  them  in  safe-keeping  without 
further  delay. 

The  publishers  of  the  national  journals  were  selected  as  the  first  victims. 
In  the  first  week  of  July,  when  but  two  numbers  of  the  Irish  Felon  had 
been  issued,  a  warrant  was  issued  for  the  arrest  of  its  registered  proprietor, 
John  Martin.  The  detectives  searched  the  office  of  the  paper,  and  the  resi 
dence  of  Mr.  Reilly,  but  in  vain.  Hearing  he  was  wanted,  Mr.  Martin,  by 
the  advice  of  his  friends,  determined  to  keep  out  of  the  Government's  clutches 
until  the  "Special  Commission"  (then  in  session  in  Dublin,  and  liable  to 
make  short  work  of  him)  had  adjourned.  I  happened  to  meet  him  while  he 
was  on  his  way  to  his  temporary  hiding-place,  and  after  a  brief  conversation, 
he  bade  me  "good-bye"  with  the  hope  that  "we  would  meet  again."  _(It 
was  over  thirteen  years  before  that  hope  was  realized.)  Within  a  week 
after  our  parting  he  surrendered ;  six  weeks  later  he  was  brought  to  trial 
before  a  "duly  selected"  jury  —  and  found  guilty  as  a  matter  of  course. 
He  was  sentenced  to  ten  years'  transportation,  and  so  ended  his  career  as  a, 
revolutionary  propagandist. 

A  GRATEFUL  TRIBUTE  TO  JOHN  MARTIN'S  MEMORY. 

After  McManus,  O'Donoghue,  Meagher  and  Mitchel  had,  successively,  effect 
ed  their  escape  from  Van  Dieman's  Land,  and  obtained  freemen's  welcome 


CASTLE   TACTICS.  217 


in  these  United  States,  and  while  the  indefatigable  Patrick  J.  Smith  was 
again  on  his  way  to  the  Antipodes,  with  the  avowed  determination  of 
rescuing  the  exiles  still  in  the  enemy's  clutches,  the  Government  were  in 
duced  to  exhibit  their  magnanimity  (?)  by  liberating  the  men  they  could  not 
much  longer  hold  in  bondage;  but,  having  still  the  power  of  prohibiting  their 
r*  turn  to  Ireland,  they  exerted  it,  and  in  so  doing,  exposed  their  hypocrisy 
and  spiteful  meanness  to  the  contempt  of  the  world. 

For  the  succeeding  two  years,  Messrs.  O'Brien,  O'Dougherty  and  Martin 
sojournad  on  the  European  Continent  — principally  in  Paris. 

It  was  during  his  residence  in  the  French  Capital  that  an  incident  —  in 
which  I  was  deeply  interested  —  occurred,  through  which  Mr.  Martin  exhib 
ited  a  trait  of  his  noble,  chivalrous  nature,  and  the  particulars  of  which,  in 
justice  to  his  memory,  I  shall  here  record. 

Through  their  officials  in  Parliament,  the  British  Government  had  boast 
ed  of  their  magnanimity  in  liberating  all  their  political  prisoners,  and  they 
might,  for  a  while,  have  succeeded  in  deceiving  the  civilized  world  into 
accepting  their  statement  as  true,  but  for  John  Martin,  who,  in  a  letter  to 
John  Francis  Maguire,  M.  P.,  flatly  contradicted  the  assertion,  and  not  only 
exposed  their  mendacious  hypocrisy,  but  forced  them  to  do  —  what  they 
boasted  having  already  done  —  through  shame  of  the  public  opinion  whose 
favor  they  surreptitiously  sought  to  gain. 

In  this  letter  Mr.  Martin  asserted  that,  to  his  personal  knowledge,  there- 
still  remained  toiling  in  the  wilds  of  Australia  and  in  the  hulks  of  Bermuda, 
ten  moie  men  who  were  transported  on  a  charge  of  being  concerned  in  an 
armed  attack  on  the  police  barrack  of  Cappoquiu  in  the  Autumn  of  1849.  These 
men  being  of  the  working  class,  and  haying  no  influential  friends  in  Ireland, 
the  Government  presumed  that  they  would  be  left  to  pine  in  their  captivity 
unnoticed  and  uncared  for.  But  little  they  knew  the  nobility  of  soul  which 
actuated  the  Irish  leaders  in  those  days.  The  glorious  rallying-cry  of  free 
dom  —  "  LIBERTY,  EQUALITY  AND  FRATERNITY  !  " —  was,  with  them,  no  mere 
lip-shibboleth.  It  was  the  oxpres-ion  of  their  heart's  creed  —  to  be  preached 
in  deeds  as  well  as  words. 

On  the  occasion  of  my  first  conversation  with  John  Mitchel,  after  his 
arrival  in  New  York,  in  November,  1853,  he  told  me  that  one  of  these 
Cappoquin  boys  —  John  Walsh  —  then  on  his  "  ticket-of- leave  " — travelled  a 
considerable  distance  to  Bothwell,  to  see  himself  and  John  Martin,  and  it 
was  through  him  they  learned  the  story  of  those  practical  admirers  of  their 
revolutionary  teachings.  John  Martin  did  not  forget  this  story  of  humble 
patriotism,  and  through  his  prompt  and  friendly  action  the  brave  fellows 
eventually  regained  their  liberty. 


218  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

While  thanking  him  in  the  name  of  my  fellow-townsmen,  I  assured  Mr. 
Martin  that  his  ^action  on  their  behalf  would  be  among  the  last  of  his  good 
deeds  to  be  forgotten  in  that  village  of  tenacious  memories  by  the  Black- 
water.  To  increase  the  circle  of  his  grateful  admirers,  and  to  aid  in  keeping 
his  "memory  green,"  I  record  it  here. 

ARREST  OP  CHARLES  GAVAN  DUFFY. 

On  the  same  evening  that  John  Martin  surrendered,  Charles  Qavan  Duffy, 
editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Nation,  was  taken  into  custody.  The  particulars 
of  his  arrest  are  thus  recorded  by  himself :  — 

"  On  Saturday,  July  8th,  when  I  returned  home  for  dinner,  a  party  of 
detectives  arrested  me  at  my  residence,  and  carried  me  in  a  close  carriage 
to  College  Street  police  office.  When  I  arrived  there  I  learned  that  the  Nation 
office  had  been  seized  at  the  same  time,  and  a  search  made  for  compromis 
ing  papers;  and  that,  finding  none,  the  police  carried  off  the  account-books 
and  office  memoranda.  I  was  duly  committed  for  trial,  and  sent  to  Newgate 
in  custody  of  a  large  body  of  police.  By  this  time  an  immense  crowd  had 
collected,  and  as  we  could  only  drive  to  the  prison  at  a  walking  pace  it 
constantly  increased.  It  was  so  dense  when  we  reached  Capel  Street  that 
the  carriage  came  to  a  standstill,  and  a  fierce  shout  arose,  "Take  him  out! 
Take  him  out ! "  A  president  of  a  club  well  known  to  me  got  on  the  steps 
and  whispered,  "Do  you  wish  to  be  rescued?"  I  replied,  "Certainly  not!' 
I  had  the  same  problem  to  face  in  my  own  case  which  we  had  laced  re 
cently  in  Muehers,  and  I  treated  it  in  the  same  way.  The  crowd  became  very 
menacing,  and  the  officer  in  command  of  the  police  appealed  to  me  to  quiet 
them.  McGee  and  Dr.  Callan,  on  my  behalf,  entreated  them  to  desist,  and 
warned  them  that  the  time  for  action  had  not  come.  After  a  parley  which 
occupied  half  an  hour  a  passage  was  at  length  cleared  to  the  prison,  and 
a  minute  after  I  found  myself  within  its  iron  grasp."* 

The  charge  of  Treason-Felony  against  Mr.  Duffy  was  grounded  on  cer 
tain  articles  which  appeared  in  the  Nation  of  that  day  (July  8)  Among  these 
articles  was  one  entitled  "Mr.  Meagher  and  the  Clubs,"  and  also  a  letter 
addressed  by  Mr.  Meagher  to  the  Dublin  Clubs,  to  which  the  article  speci 
fied  referred  editorially.! 


•"Four  Tears  of  Irish  History."    Page  623-4. 

tin  connection  with  this  address  to  the  Clubs,  Mr.  Meagher,  during  fce  progress  of 
Mr.  Duffy's  trial,  addressed  the  following  letter  to  Sir  Colman  O'Loghlan,  one  of  the  de 
fendant's  counsel:— 


MARKED  FOE    VENGEANCE.  219 

Before  Mr.  Duffy  was  brought  to  trial,  the  indictment  on  which  he  was 
arrested  was  strengthened  by  several  supplementary  charges  —  based  on  arti 
cles  published  in  the  Nation  hptween  the  date  of  his  committal  to  Newgate 
and  the  29th  of  July,  —  when  the  paper  was  finally  suppressed. 

Mr.  Duffy's  imprisonment  lasted  ten  months.  During  that  period  no 
Irish  political  prisoner  was  more  persistently  and  vindictively  maligned  and 
persecuted  by  the  meanest  government  that  ever  tyranised  over  his  land  and 
race.  Five  times  he  was  brought  to  trial,  and  in  every  instance  the  jury  — 
carefully  selected  as  it  was  —  failed  to  convict  him.  On  the  last  trial  they 
stood  seven  for  acquittal  and  five  for  a  modified  verdict;  not  one  would 
find  him  guilty  as  indicted.  So  at  length  the  Government,  —  baffled  and 
beaten  —  abandoned  the  contest  —  and  their  indomitable  enemy  walked  forth 
a  free  man,  dearer  than  ever  to  the  land  for  which  he  suffered,  and  to  the 
people  whom  it  was  his  life's  duty,  by  precept  and  example,  to  educate  to 
nationhood. 

ARREST  OF  MESSRS.  O'DOHERTY  AND  WILLIAMS 

Within  two  hours  after  the  editors  of  the  Nation  and  Irish  Felon  had 
been  lodged  in  Newgate.  Kevin  Izod  O'Doherty  was  arrested  at  his  residence 
and  on  the  next  day,  (Sunday,  July  9th,)  Richard  D'Alton  Williams  was 
arrested  at  Dr.  Antisell's  house.  On  that  evening  both  gentlemen,  after  be 
ing  formally  committed  on  a  charge  of  "  Treason  Felony,"  were  escorted  to 
Newgate  by  a  detachment  of  the  city  police.  Their  incarceration  completed 
the  list  of  Journalistic  victims  —  for  the  time  being,  and  left  the  national 
press  without  a  recognized  head. 


"RICHMOND  BEIDEWELL,  Dec.  10,  1848. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIB  COLMAN  :  —  I  have  been  given  to  understand,  that  one  of  the  articles 
in  the  Indictment  against  my  friend,  Charles  Gavan  Duffy,  happens  to  be  a  letter  of  mine 
addressed  to  the  clubs  of  Dublin  on  the  7th  of  last  July. 

"  Since  you  are  engaged  for  the  defence,  I  wish  to  state  that  I  am  the  author  of  that 
letter,  and  that,  moreover,  it  appeared  in  the  NATION  before  Mr.  Duffy,  or  any  other 
person  responsibly  connected  with  his  paper  had  seen  it.  I  commenced  writing  it  after 
the  first  edition  of  that  paper  had  been  put  to  press,  and  It  was  inserted  in  the  aftoond 
edition  about  12  o'clock  the  night  of  the  above-mentioned  day.  I  think  it  my  duty  to 
make  known  this  fact,  so  that  no  one  but  myself  may  be  held  accountable  by  the  GOT- 
ernment  for  the  sentiments  of  the  letter  in  question;  and  that  so  far  as  this  one  circum 
stance  will  have  the  effect,  it  may  clearly  appear  that  the  imputation  attached  to  my 
friend,  of  having  Instigated  others  to  a  certain  course  of  action,  is  utterly  unfounded. 
With  great  esteem,  believe  me,  my  dear  Sir  Colman,  your  faithful  friend, 

"THOMAS    FRANCIS    MEAGHKB." 


220  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 


THE  TRIAL  AND  CONVICTION  OF  O'DOHERTY. 

In  October  following,  Messrs.  O'Doherty  and  Williams  were  brought  to 
trial.  The  former  gentleman,  after  undergoing  two  trials — in  which  the 
juries  could  not  agree  —  was  tried  a  third  time  —  before  a  more  carefully 
selected  set  of  suborned  rascals  —  and  found  guilty.  He  was  sentenced  to 
transportation  for  ten  years  —  six  of  which  he  underwent  before  he  was  re 
leased  with  his  compatriots  O'Brien  and  Martin.  He  spent  some  time  in 
Ireland  after  obtaining  his  liberty,  but  subsequently  returned  to  Australia  — 
of  which  country  he  is  an  honored  and  prosperous  citizen. 

WILLIAMS  ACQUITTED.  —  TESTIMONY  TO  HIS  GENIUS  AND  WORTH. 

Mr.  Williams,  though  tried  on  the  same  charge,  and  for  the  same  arti 
cles  as  O'Doherty,  was  acquitted.  He  was  the  only  one  of  the  men  —  spe 
cially  marked  for  Government  vengeance  at  the  time  —  who  was  so  lucky. 
His  delivereuce  was  looked  upon  by  many  as  a  special  dispensation  of  provi 
dence,  while  some  of  his  exuberant  countrymen  confidently  asserted  the 
opinion  that  "Shamrock"  must  have  found  his  '-Four-leaved  namesake"  — 
to  baifle  the  powers  of  evil  as  he  did.  The  most  prevalent  opinion,  how 
ever,  was,  that  his  acquittal  was  due  to  his  being  the  author  of  a  poem 
entitled  il  The  Sister  of  Charity,"  on  the  beauty,  tenderness,  and  devotional 
feeling  of  which,  his  counsel,  Samuel  Ferguson,  dwelt  with  such  persuasive 
eloquence  as  to  soften  the  hearts  and  touch  the  conscience  of  the  jury.  In 
the  course  of  his  address  the  poet-advocate  bore  this  strong  testimony  to 
the  high  moral  character  and  poetical  ability  of  his  client :  — 

"  Gentlemen,  I  am  not  a  member  of  that  ancient  and  venerable  church 
within  whose  pale  my  client  seeks  for  salvation,  and  has  found  tranquil ity 
and  contentment  in  affliction.  But  I  would  be  unworthy  the  noble  and  gen 
erous  Protestant  faith  which  I  profess,  if  I  could  withhold  my  admiration 
from  the  services  which  I  am  instructed  he  has  rendered  to  the  cause  of 
religion  and  of  charity,  not  only  by  his  personal  exertions  in  distributing 
the  beneficence  of  one  of  the  best  and  most  useful  charitable  institutions 
existing  in  your  city,*  but  also  by  his  pen,  in  embodying  the  purest  aspi 
rations  of  religion  in  sublime  and  beautiful  poetry. 

•'  When  I  speak  of  the  services  he  has  rendered  to  religion  by  his  poe 
try,  allow  me  also  to  say  that  he  has  also  rendered  services  to  the  cause 


*The   society   of   St.    Vincent   de   Paul— of   which    Williams   was   a  devoted  and  inde 
fatigable  agent  in  Dublin. 


MARKED  FOB    VENGEANCE.  221 

of  patriotism  and  of  humanity  by  it,  and  permit  me  to  use  the  privilege 
of  a  long  apprenticeship  in  those  pursuits,  and  to  say  that  in  my  own  humble 
judgment,  after  our  great  bard  Moore,  the  first  living  poet  of  Ireland,  is 
this  gentleman  who  now  stands  at  the  bar  arraigned  upon  this  charge." 

This,  coming  from  the  distinguished  author  of  "  The  Forging  of  the 

Anchor,"  is  setting  the  seal  to  the  popular  verdict  on  the  Nation's  favorite 
poet. 

Another  poetical  contemporary  of  Williams,  as  well  as  one  of  his  most 

intimate  friends  —  the  late  John  Savage, — pays  this  tribute  to  his  genius:  — 

;i  His  genius  was  peculiarly  and  gloriously  versatile.  His  writings  un 
der  the  well-known  signature  of  '  Shamrock,"  are  in  every  mood,  and  with 
equal  success.  In  his  patriotic  odes  a  deep  tone  of  elevated  piety  holds  in, 
with  beautiful  effect,  the  struggles  of  an  exuberant  and  well-stored  fancy. 
His  love  poems  are  full  of  tenderness  and  feeling,  and  his  'Misadventures 
of  a  Medical  Student,'  are  really  unmatched  and  unmatchable  for  wit  and 
drollery." 

His  CAREER  IN  AMERICA. 

Soon  after  his  acquittal,  Mr.  Williams  obtained  his  medical  diploma,  and 
practiced  at  his  profession  in  Dublin  for  the  two  succeeding  years.  In  the 
summer  of  1851  he  emigrated  to  America;  and  after  a  brief  stay  in  Xew 
York,  enjoying  a  happy  re-union  with  his  old  compatriots,  Savage,  Breuan, 
Keilly,  Dillon,  Antisell.  and  O'Gormau,  he  went  South  — having  obtained  a 
position  as  Professor  of  Belles  Lettres  in  Spring  Hill  College,  Mobile.  In 
1S5G  he  went  to  Xew  Orleans,  where  he  practised  as  a  physician  for  some 
years,  and,  during  that  period,  contributed  some  of  his  best  poems  to  the 
local  periodicals. 

About  the  beginning  of  1861  he  went  to  reside  at  Thibodeaux  — where 
he  died  in  the  following  year,  of  consumption,  and  in  the  lonely  little 
church  yard  of  which  place  his  remains  were  consigned  to  rest,  —  and.  to 
all  appearance,  to  the  oblivion  which  envelopes  the  grave  of  the  unknown 
exile  dying  far  away  from  country  and  kin.  The  excitement  and  confusion 
which  followed  the  tide  of  war  then  surging  through  Louisiana,  seemed  but 
destined  to  bury  his  grave  and  memory  all  the  deeper.  But  such  was  not 
to  be  the  poet's  fate.  On  the  contrary,  as  if  by  a  strange  interposition  of 
Providence.  —  the  battle-tide  bore  to  the  vicinity  of  that  weed-covered  grave 
some  soldier-children  of  his  own  loved  1  unisf ail  —  kindred  spirits  —  who  knew 
him  through  his  songs,  his  patiiotism  and  his  humanity  — who  gloried  in 
his  lame,  and  cherished  his  memorv.  • 


222  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAQHER. 

These  men  were  members  ef  the  8th  Regiment  New  Hampshire  Volun 
teers,  who,  stimulated  by  the  gallant  Captain  Thomas  Connolly  —  erewhfte 
Centre  of  the  Manchester,  N.  H.,  Circle  of  the  Fenian  Brotherhood  —  deter 
mined  to  place  a  fitting  monument  on  their  minstrel's  grave.  Captain  Con 
nolly  designed  the  monument  — a  plain  marble  shaft  — and  pedestal — wrote 
the  inscription,  collected  the  funds,  and  then  went  to  New  Orleans  and  gave 
his  order  and  instructions  to  the  sculptor.  In  a  brief  space  the  monument 
reached  its  destination,  and  was  erected  by  the  patriot  soldiers  with  appro 
priate  ceremonies. 

It  bears  the  following  inscription:  — 

SACKED  TO  THE  MEMORY  OF 
RICHARD    DALTON   WILLIAMS, 

THE  IRISH  PATRIOT  AND  POET, 
WHO  DIED  JULY  5,  1862.    AGED  40  YEARS. 

THIS  STONE  WAS   ERECTED   BY  His  COUNTRYMEN   SERVING  IN  COMPANIES  C 
AND  K,  STH  REGT.,  N.  H.  VOLUNTEERS, 

As  A  SLIGHT  TESTIMONIAL  OF  THEIR  ESTEEM  FOR    HIS  UNSULLIED 
PATRIOTISM,  AND  HIS  EXALTED   DEVOTION 

To  THE  CAUSE  OP  IRISH  FREEDOM. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  no  complete  collection  of  Richard  Dai- 
ton  Williams's  poems  has  ever  been  published;  for,  while  the  greater  portion 
of  those  contributed  to  the  Irish  national  journals  are  still  easily  accessible 
to  a  competent  editor,  it  is,  unfortunately,  not  so  with  his  many  more  ma 
ture  compositions  written  during  his  American  career.  Scattered  as  they  are 
through  various  newspapers  and  periodicals,  several  of  these  latter  poems 
are  known  but  to  a  comparative  few  of  the  author's  literary  cotemporaries, 
and  are  therefore  in  danger  of  being  unidentified  in  the  course  of  time,  if 
not  soon  collected  and  duly  credited. 


WAITING  FOE  -k  THE  WORD."  223 


CHAPTER    XLI. 


WATERFORD  AND  CASHEL.  —  WAITING  FOR  THE   "WORD."  — A 
BRIEF  MEMOIR  OF  MICHAEL  DOHENY. 

Slubhal  a-bballe!    Siubhal  a-bhaile!  through  our  parted  island, 
Many  a  friend  and   foe   hast  thou  in  valley  and  in  highland. 
But  where'er  the  friends  are  false  — when  the  foes  distress  thee, 
Siubhal  a-bhaile!  here  are  ready  weapons  to  redress  theee. 

GERALD  GRIFFIN. 

AT  the  time  the  national  journalists  were  incarcerated  in  Newgate,  most 
of  the  other  Confederate  leaders  were  absent  from  Dublin,  each  one  work 
ing  where  he  could  do  the  most  good.  Smith  O'Brien  was  at  his  home  in 
Cahermoile.  Meagher  was  on  a  tour  of  inspection  of  the  Munster  Clubs  — 
giving  them  words  of  advice,  encouragement,  and  hope,  previous  to  his  (con 
templated)  departure  for  America.  Doheny  was  in  Tipperary.  McGee  and 
Hollywood  in  Wicklow.  Thomas  Devin  Reilly  had  gone  to  Monaghau  to  see 
his  sick  mother  —  the  only  member  of  his  family  who  sympathized  with  his 
political  principles.  Each  of  these  gentlemen  —  with  the  exception  of  O'Brien 
and  Reilly  —  rendered  himself  so  obnoxious  to  the  government  during  his 
week's  campaign  as  to  be  amenable  to  arrest  on  a  charge  of  sedition. 

Messrs.  McGee  and  Hollywood's  offence  lay  in  their  delivering  seditious 
speeches  at  Roundwood,  county  of  Wicklow,  on  Sunday,  July  2nd.  They 
were  arrested  on  the  12th  of  that  month,  in  Dublin,  and  remanded  for  trial 
at  the  ensuing  county  Wicklow  assizes,  on  bail. 

Meagher,  after  visiting  Cork,  hurried  on  to  Cahermoyle,  to  consult  with 
Smith  O'Brien,  but  not  finding  him  at  home,  left  a  letter  for  him,  which 
was  subsequently  used  as  evidence  against  O'Brien  in  Clonmel.  This  letter, 
which  was  dated  July  5th,  1848,  concluded  as  follows :  — 

"•Well,  then,  I  come  to  tell  you  about  the  American  trip.  I  am  off  for 
New  York,  (God  willing,)  on  Saturday  — 

'  O'er  the  a;lad  waters  of  the  dark  blue  sea, 
My  thoughts  as  boundless  and  my  soul  as  free.' 

"What    to    do?     To    raise    money,    to    invoke    sympathy, — to    &c.,    &c., 


224  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

amuse  myself.  You  will  be  delighted  with  the  Cork  organization.  Be  so 
good  as  to  mention  at  the  soiree  on  Monday  night  the  object  and  the  fact 
of  my  departure,  and  believe  me,  ever  your  faithful  friend, 

"THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER," 

(The  events  of  the  ensuing  week  caused  him  to  abandon  the  intended 
visit  to  America). 

On  his  return  from  Cahermoyle  to  the  neighboring  town  of  Rathkeale, 
Meagher  addressed  the  inhabitants  from  the  window  of  his  hotel.  For  the 
speech  then  delivered  a  warrant  for  his  arrest  —  on  the  charge  of  using  sedi 
tious  language  —  was  issued.  The  result  led  to  one  of  the  most  important 
of  those  "  lost  opportunities "  which  the  Irish  people  afforded  their  leaders 
in  this  eventful  year. 

ARREST  OF  MEAGHER  IN  WATERFORD,  AND   DOHENY  IN  CASHEL. 

On  Wednesday,  July  12th,  Dublin  was  startled  by  the  announcement 
that,  on  the  previous  day.  Meagher  had  been  arrested  in  Waterford  and 
Doheny  in  Cashel,  and  that  the  populace  rose  en  masse,  and  would  have 
rescued  both  but  for  the  urgent  appeals  of  the  prisoners  themselves  —  who 
begged  them  to  restrain  their  passionate  ardor  —  as  "  the  time  had  not  yet 
come."  The  following  particulars  of  both  affairs  were  given  by  the  local 
correspondents  of  the  Freeman :  — 

"ARREST   OF  T.  F.  MEAGHER,  ESQ.,  AT  WATERFORD. 

"On  Tuesday,  about  half-past  two  o'clock,  Captain  Gunn,  accompanied 
by  Constable  Hughes,  arrested  Mr.  Meagher,  at  his  father's  residence  in  the 
Mall,  on  a  charge  of  having  uttered  seditious  language  at  Rathkeale.  Upon 
the  news  spreading,  the  chapel  bells  were  rung,  and  the  whole  population 
turned  out.  The  utmost  excitement  prevailed  in  every  direction  —  nothing 
but  a  rescue  was  spoken  of. 

"Mr.  Meagher  being  informed  of  this,  went  to  the  window,  and  endea 
vored  to  persuade  the  people  against  the  project.  After  speaking  some  ten  or 
fifteen  minutes,  he  found  it  impossible  to  restrain  their  feelings,  an4  retired 
almost  in  despair.  After  the  lapse  of  an  hour  or  so,  during  which  time  he 
was  waited  upon  by  numbers  of  his  fellow-citizens  of  all  classes,  including 
several  magistrates  and  clergymen,  Mr.  Meagher  again  appeared  at  the  win 
dow,  and  a  second  time  endeavored  to  calm  the  feelings  of  the  people,  ;ind 
with  some  greater  effect  than  at  first.  In  the  mean  time,  a  military  force, 


ARREST  OF  MR.   MEAGHER. 


consisting  of  a  troop  of  the  4th  Light  Dragoons,  and  three  companies  of 
the  7th  Fusileers  arrived,  and  drew  up  in  Beresford  street,  close  to  Mr. 
Meagher  residence. 

•'  The  streets  were  still  becoming  more  thronged  with  people  from  differ 
ent  directions,  and  Mr.  Meagher,  having  sent  in  some  of  his  most  trusted 
followers —  the  men  of  Ballybricken  —  amongst  the  crowd,  he  succeeded  in 
appeasing  their  irritation  to  a  great  extent.  About  this  time  Mr.  Meagher 
was  informed  that  messengers  had  been  sent  to  Carrick-on-Suir,  for  the 
Clubs  there  organized,  and  that  they  would  be  in  march  upon  the  city  in 
two  or  three  hours,  whereupon  he  at  once  dispatched  two  messengers  with 
a  written  order  countermanding  the  order. 

"  At  half-past  six  a  chaise  and  pah-  drew  up  opposite  the  door,  and  Mr. 
Meagher  addressed  the  people  in  the  most  fervent  and  affectionate  manner, 
counselling  them  not  to  act  upon  the  rash  dictates  of  the  moment,  and  im 
plored  of  them  not  to  stain  his  soul,  or  wreck  the  cause  in  a  sea  of  una 
vailing  blood.  This  language,  delivered  in  the  most  impassioned  style,  had 
an  immense  effect  upon  the  crowd,  who  swore  they  would  obey  the  instruc 
tions  which  Mr.  Meagher  had  given  them. 

"  He  then  proceeded  to  the  chaise,  acccompanied  by  his  cousin,  Roger 
F.  Sweetman  of  Blenheim  Lodge,  and  Captain  Gunn,  the  Chief  of  the  Po 
lice.  It  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  he  could  pass  through  the  crowd, 
thousands  of  his  fellow-citizens  pressing  round  him,  grasping  him  by  the- 
hand,  and  embracing  him  with  the  utmost  devotion. 

•'The  dragoons  then  formed  on  either  side  of  the  carriage  with  drawn 
swords,  followed  and  closed  in  by  strong  parties  of  the  7th  Fusileers  in  for 
aging  dress,  each  provided  with  sixty  rounds  of  ball  cartridge.  This  demon 
stration,  however,  did  not  in  the  least  affect,  but  seemed  to  increase  to  a 
most  violent  extent  the  enthusiasm  of  the  people.  From  this  to  the  bridge 
the  whole  line  of  quay  was  one  vast  mass  of  human  beings,  the  shops  being 
closed,  and  all  the  windows  thronged  with  ladies  and  gentlemen,  who  waved 
their  handkerchiefs  in  the  air,  and  saluted  Mr.  Meagher  as  he  passed.  It 
was  a  splendid  exhibition  of  patriotism  and  devotion  to  the  young  citizen, 
and  more  resembled  a  triumphant  procession  than  the  arrest  of  "  a  felon." 

"  As  they  neared  the  bridge,  the  passion  of  the  people  seemed  to  break 
out  again,  vexation  drove  tears  to  their  eyes,  and  again  and  again  did  they 
rush  to  the  doora  of  the  chaise,  exclaiming  — "  For  (rod's  sake  sir,  give  us 
the  word!"  "•For  Heaven's  sake  give  us  the  word/"  Mr.  Meagher,  however, 
still  persisted  in  adhering  to  the  advice  which  he  had  given  them;  and 
there  would  then  come  from  the  people  a  bitter  cry  —  "You  will  regret  it,  sir 
—  you  will  regret  it"  —  and  "it  is  all  your  own  fault."  But  at  this  point 

15 


226  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FEANC2S  MEAGHEE. 

they  seemed  likely  to  act  in  spite  of  his  remonstrances;  for  the  traces  and 
reins  of  the  horses  were  cut  to  pieces,  and  their  progress  was  delayed  a 
full  half  hour.  With  the  assistance,  however,  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tracy,  who 
sat  upon  the  box  of  the  chaise,  some  order  was  restored,  and  the  harness 
replaced.  Mr.  Meagher's  faithful  followers,  the  Ballybricken  men,  again  ex 
erted  themselves  to  the  utmost  to  see  that  his  instructions  were  carried  out; 
but  notwithstanding  all  their  efforts,  stones  now  began  to  be  thrown  at  the 
military,  and  Captain  Gunn,  who  was  slightly  wounded  over  the  right  eye, 
was  on  the  point  of  discharging  his  pistol  when  he  was  seized  by  Mr. 
Sweetman,  and  prevented  from  so  doing. 

"At  the  bridge  the  obstruction  was  again  renewed,  and  it  was  with 
great  difficulty  they  succeeded  in  forcing  a  passage.  On  reaching  the  oppo 
site  side  they  were  again  obstructed  by  a  barricade  formed  by  two  immense 
balks  of  timber,  beyond  which  the  people  were  drawn  up.  Matters  were 
here  looking  most  serious,  and  the  people  seemed  determined  not  to  allow 
Mr.  Meagher  to  pass  the  river,  when,  amid  a  shower  of  stones,  he  got  out 
of  the  chaise,  took  off  his  hat,  called  upon  the  people  to  be  faithful  to  the 
promise  they  had  given  him,  and  begged  of  them  to  remove  the  barrier. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Tracy  also  remonstrated  with  them,  and  after  some  time  they 
removed  the  balks,  and  allowed  the  carriage  to  pass  on  to  the  gate  at  the 
Kilkenny  side  of  the  river.  Here,  however,  an  immense  concourse  had  col 
lected,  who  insisted  upon  the  gate  being  shut,  and  actually  succeeded  in 
driving  it  home  with  large  planks  and  beams  of  timber,  by  which  means 
one  party  of  the  dragoons  was  divided  from  the  other.  In  this  isolated 
state,  the  people  who  had  assembled  on  the  New  Ross  and  Kilkenny  roads 
commenced  flinging  stones,  while  those  on  the  other  side  of  the  gate  crowded 
round  the  chaise,  and  implored  Mr.  Meagher  for  the  last  time  to  give  the 
word  and  "let  them  out." 

"  Mr.  Meagher,  however,  was  not  to  be  shaken  hi  his  determination,  and 
seeing  that  a  bloody  riot  was  inevitable,  on  account  of  the  dragoons  in  ad 
vance  of  the  chaise,  and  on  the  other  side  of  the  gate,  being  so  desperate, 
again  got  out  of  the  chaise,  and  standing  upon  the  roof  of  it,  ordered  the 
gate  to  be  opened.  Several  members  of  the  "Felon  Club"  at  once  proceeded 
to  put  his  orders  into  execution,  and,  after  some  time  succeeded  in  opening 
the  passage,  when,  amid  the  most  enthusiastic  cheering,  but  most  bitter  re 
gret,  and  disappointment,  and  vexation  of  the  people,  the  chaise,  escorted 
by  the  dragoons  and  officers  of  the  7th  Fusileers,  drove  off  at  a  rapid  pace 
to  overtake  the  Dublin  mail.  Owing,  however,  to  the  delays  along  the 
quays,  it  was  not  until  they  came  near  Ballyhale,  a  distance  of  seventeen 


ARREST  OF  ME.   MEAGHER.  227 


miles,  that   they  came   up   to   the   coach,   the  dragoons  escorting  him  up  to 
this  part. 

"Mr.  Meagher,  accompanied  by  Captain  Gunn  and  three  other  police 
men,  entered  the  mail.  At  one  o'clock  he  reached  the  Carlovv  station,  and 
proceeded  by  train  to  Dublin,  where  he  arrived  at  half-past  three  o'clock." 

The  subsequent  proceedings  are  thus  narrated  in  the  Freeman :  — 

"  On  arriving  in  town  Mr.  Meagher  was  brought  to  the  College  street 
station-house,  where  some  conversation  took  place  between  him  and  Captain 
Gunn,  and  Mr.  Fitzpatrick,  the  Inspector  on  duty,  as  to  the  propriety  of 
allowing  Mr.  Meagher  to  go  to  a  hotel.  Captain  Gunn  was  apprehensive 
that  a  rescue  might  be  attempted  by  the  Clubs;  but  Mr.  Fitzpatrick  assured 
him  that  he  would  not  have  the  slightest  hesitation  in  walking  around  the 
city  with  Mr.  Meagher  at  that  moment,  if  Mr.  Meagher  only  gave  his  word 
that  he  would  not  abuse  his  confidence.  Captain  Gunn,  however,  still  seemed 
to  hesitate,  and  said  that  if  Mr.  Meagher  would  pledge  his  word  to  him, 
he  would  have  no  objection  to  letting  him  go  to  a  hotel,  but  he  would  re 
quire  the  attendance  of  one  or  two  policemen. 

;'Mr.  Meagher  replied  that  'he  had  already  pledged  his  word  to  Captain 
Gunn,  in  Waterford,  that  he  would  not  take  advantage  of  any  courtesy 
which  might  be  shown  him;  that  he  had  kept  that  word  solemnly  in  Wa 
terford  —  when  he  might  have  broken  it  with  success ;  that  Captain  Gunn 
himself  was  aware  that  but  for  his  (Mr.  Meagher's)  exertions,  he  would 
have  been  seriously,  if  not  fatally,  wounded;  that  those  circumstances  should 
have  rendered  a  second  pledge  unnecessary ;  that  he  would  not  give  his 
word  a  second  time;  and  that  if  Captain  Gunn  had  not  sufficient  confidence 
in  him,  he  would  remain  where  he  was,  and  require  no  indulgence.' 

u  Thereupon,  Captain  Gunn  consented  to  Mr.  Meagher's  retiring  to  the 
Star  and  Garter  Hotel,  in  D'Olier  street." 

It  was  only  through  the  report  of  the  above  proceeding  in  the  next 
morning's  papers  that  Mr.  Meagher's  arrest  became  known  throughout  Dub 
lin,  and  as  the  people  were  under  the  impression  that  he  was  arrested  under 
the  "  Treason- Felony  Act,"  the  excitement  was  intense.  At  an  early  hour 
the  hotel  was  thronged  with  gentlemen  who  hastened  to  tender  their  sym 
pathy  to  Mr.  Meagher  —  several  clergymen  being  among  the  number,  includ 
ing  one  young  priest  — the  Kev.  Dr.  Croke,  at  that  time  unknown  to  fame, 
but  who,  on  that  week,  publicly  commenced  his  career  of  consistent  patri 
otism  that,  —  apart  from  his  position  as  one  of  the  highest  and  most  honored 
dignitaries  of  the  Irish  Church, — has  caused  his  name  to  be  revered  and 


228  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.F  THOMAS  EANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

beloved,  wherever,  over  this  wide  earth,  there  congregates  a  company  of 
the  Irish  race.* 

About  noon  Mr.  Meagher,  accompanied  by  his  friends,  proceeded  to  the 
College  street  police  office,  where,  after  some  delay  —  including  an  adjournment 
to  perfect  sureties,  he  entered  into  his  own  recognizances  of  £300,  to  appear 
at  the  next  Limerick  assizes,  to  answer  the  charge  preferred  against  him, 
and  Mr.  Richard  O'Gorman.  senior,  and  Alderman  Butler  perfected  their 
bail-bonds  as  sureties  hi  the  sum  of  £250  each. 

The  proceedings  having  terminated,  Mr.  Meagher  left  the  office  and  was 
almost  borne  bodily  to  the  hotel  in  the  arms  of  the  exulting  multitude, 
which  filled  D'Olier  street  from  end  to  end  in  one  compact  mass.  Every 
available  space  was  occupied,  and  even  the  lamp-posts  and  the  projections 
of  the  houses  opposite  the  hotel  were  taken  possession  of  by  the  people. 

Amid  a  storm  of  cheers  Mr.  Meagher  presented  himself  at  the  window 
to  address  the  impatient  crowd.  It  was  his  last  public  speech  in  Dublin, 
and  the  last  which  I  ever  heard  him  deliver  in  Ireland;  and,  for  that  reason, 
it  is  more  clearly  impressed  on  my  memory  than  many  of  his  more  impor 
tant  orations,  to  which  I  listened  during  that  spirit-stirring  spring  and 
summer. 

When  silence  was  restored  he  spoke  as  follows:  — 

MEAGHER'S    LAST  PUBLIC  SPEECH  IN  DUBLIN. 

(JULY    12TH,    1848.) 

"Fellow-countrymen,  —  I  have  only  got  a  few  words  to  say  to  you  at 
present,  because  I  don't  wish  you  to  put  yourselves  in  the  way  of  having 


*  NOTE.  —  CHARLES  GAVAN  DUFFY,  In  his  "Four  Years  of  Irish  History  I"  records 
this  interesting  incident  of  Dr.  Croke's  courageous  patriotism  at  the  period  referred  to  In 
the  text,  i.  e.,  the  week  after  his  own  arrest:  — 

"  A  little  later,  as  the  prospect  grew  darker,  two  young  priests,  whom  I  had  never 
seen  before,  visited  me  in  Newgate  to  make  a  gallant  proposal.  As  the  national  editors 
were  in  prison,  and  their  successors  threatened  with  arrest,  they  suggested  that  certain 
young  priests,  themselves  to  begin,  should  take  the  place  of  the  imprisoned  publicists  and 
carry  on  their  work.  I  told  them  that  to  my  thinking  there  would  soon  be  no  longer 
any  national  press  to  conduct;  we  had  arrived  at  a  point  where  the  Government  must 
extlngush  it,  or  abandon  their  other  measures  of  suppression,  I  indicated,  however,  a 
place  where  the  services  of  young  priests  would  soon  be  in  request,  and  be  eminently 
useful. 

"  One  of  these  young  ecclesiastics  was  Dr.  Barry,  afterwards  Principal  of  St.  Patrlek's 
College,  Melbourne.  The  other  was  Dr.  Croke,  the  present  Archbishop  of  Cashel." 


LAST  SPEECH  IN  DUBLIN.  229 

this  peaceable  meeting  interrupted  by  force.  I  merely  come  forward  to  tell 
you  the  nature  of  the  circumstance  which  has  caused  some  excitement 
amongst  you,  and  it  is  this :  That  I  was  arrested  yesterday,  and  brought 
out  of  Waterford  by  a  troop  of  the  4th  Light  Dragoons,  and  two  or  three 
companies  of  the  7th  Fusileers.  (Laughter.)  It  was  thought  in  Waterford 
that  I  had  been  arrested  on  a  charge  of  felony;  but  it  is  quite  evident  they 
have  missed  their  shot  this  time.  (Laughter  and  cheers). 

"  I  have  also  to  tell  you,  my  friends,  that  but  for  my  most  passionate 
appeals  to  the  people,  I  never  would  stand  here  to-day.  (Great  cheering). 
My  fellow-citizens  of  Waterford  had  barricaded  and  shut  the  gates  of  their 
city  —  (tremendous  and  protracted  cheers)  —  and  it  was  at  my  urgent  en 
treaty  that  the  barricades  were  removed,  and  the  gates  opened;  for  I  told 
them  not  to  do  anything  rash  —  I  told  them  that  I  was  not  yet  in  prison, 
and  that  they  might  regret  any  rash  act  which  they  were  induced  to  com 
mit  under  the  excitement  of  the  moment.  I  was  right  in  giving  that  ad 
vice,  and  they  were  right  in  taking  it;  but  I  now  tell  you  emphatically, 
that  you  may  depend  upon  the  men  of  Waterford.  (Loud  cheers). 

"  I  go  from  this  city  at  half-past  eight  o'clock  this  evening,  to  appear 
at  the  next  assizes  of  Limerick  to  stand  my  trial  —  that  is,  if  I  like  it, — 
(laughter,)  —  for  making  use  of  seditious  language  at  Kathkeale  the  other 
night.  I  was  speaking  there  a  short  time  ago,  and  was  not  aware  that 
there  was  any  government  reporter  present;  but  I  afterwards  found  that 
this  duty  was  performed  by  two  police  constables,  —  (groans,)  —  with  whom 
I  was  endeavoring  to  fraternize,  but  who,  as  the  sequel  proves,  rejected  my 
fair  advances.  (Loud  laughter). 

"  "Well,  I  go  to  Limerick  without  the  slightest  apprehension  of  any  con 
sequences  whatever,  (cheers) ;  and  what  is  more,  I  am  determined  that  they 
shall  not  have  me  in  Newgate.  (Immense  cheering).  My  oratory  is  at  an 
end,  at  least  for  some  time.  The  people  will  not  lose  me  or  my  services, 
of  whatever  use  they  may  be  to  them.  (Loud  cheers).  Therefore,  as  I  re 
serve  myself  for  your  cause,  I  call  upon  you  to  pluck  up  heart,  and  pursue 
your  course  with  undiminished  ardor.  (Cheers).  Never  mind  those  arrtsts; 
you  have  true  men  amongst  you  still.  (Hear,  hear).  Organize  as  you  have 
been  doing  heretofore;  keep  that  ground  and  maintain  it.  (Cheers).  Never 
mind  these  threats  of  the  suppression  of  the  clubs;  continue  to  enroll  your 
members,  and  then  if  they  shut  up  the  rooms  you  have  the  names  still  ou 
the  cards.  (Cheers). 

"This  is  the  advice  I  give  you;  and  I  am  sure  that,  as  under  existing 
circumstances  my  advice  was  taken  by  the  people,  in  this  more  gratifying 


230  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

state    of  things,  an   advice   less  difficult  to  adopt  will  be  followed  by  equal 
readiness.     Courage!  —  a  few  more  effons,   and  we  will  have  the  day." 

On  the  following  Saturday  Meagher  appeared  in  Limerick  Court-House, 
and  gave  bail  to  stand  his  trial  there  at  the  next  assizes. 

ARREST  OF  MICHAEL  DOHENY  IN  CASHEL.  —  His  FRIENDS  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

Should  woe  or   want  oppress  his  friends  — 

Though  State  and  Fate  proclaim  dispair,  he 
Against  them  all  the  "Pass"  defends, 

And  rights  the  wrongs  of  TIpperary.—  DAVIS. 

On  the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  Meagher  was  arrested  in  Water- 
ford,  his  associate-patriot,  Michael  Doheny,  was  taken  into  custody  in  Cashel, 
their  offences  were  similar,  and,  —  by  a  strange  coincidence,  —  so  were  the 
ebullitions  of  the  popular  feeling  to  which  their  arrests  gave  rise.  It  was 
as  if  the  blow  struck  at  their  favorite  leaders  had  produced  an  electric 
spark  which  simultaneously  fired  the  hearts  of  the  two  best  fighting  coun 
ties  in  Ireland.  As  if  further  to  carry  out  the  parallel  — in  both  instances  — 
it  was  by  the  most  strenuous  exertions  of  the  people's  champions  that  the 
flame  was  extinguished  which  might  otherwise  have,  in  twenty-four  hours, 
set  every  hill-top  in  Munster  ablaze  with  the  belfires  of  revolution.  Three 
weeks  afterwards,  those  leaders,  aimless  wanderers,  would  have  sacrificed 
their  lives  to  re-kindle  the  passionate  enthusiasm  and  fiery  determination 
which  they  then  deemed  it  their  highest  duty  to  Ireland  to  allay,  and  stifle. 
But  alas !  the  glorious  opportunity  was  lost  —  and  could  not  be  retrieved 
for  the  time. 

The  particulars  of  Doheny's  arrest  are  thus  related  by  an  eye-witness 
of  the  proceedings:  — 

'CASHEL,  TUESDAY,  JULY  HTH,  1848. 

"  Mr.  Michael  Doheny  was  arrested  this  morning,  in  his  own  house,  by 
Mr.  Joseph  Cox,  the  sub-inspector  of  police,  and  taken  before  Mr.  Ffrench, 
the  stipendiary  magistrate,  charged,  under  the  late  act  of  Parliament,  with 
sedition,  uttered  in  a  speech  pronounced  by  him  at  Roscrea,  in  the  North 
Riding.  After  a  short  examination,  he  was  ordered  to  be  committed  to 
gaol. 

"  As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  Mr.  Doheny  was  being  conveyed  from 
the  magistrate's  office  by  a  back  way  for  the  city  gaol,  the  streets  resounded 
with  the  heavy  trampings  of  the  mob  as  they  ran  to  the  rescue;  and,  whe 
ther  for  good  or  evil,  to  our  credit  or  discredit,  let  what  will  be  said,  there 


MEMOIR    OF  MICHAEL   DO  HE  XT.  231 

teas  a  rescue.  That  Mr.  Doheny  is  now  in  gaol,  is  his  own  fault;  no  man 
will  deny  it.  Neither  the  magistrates  nor  the  inspector  can  deny  it;  and 
he  was  rescued,  too,  before  the  mob  were  half-way  to  the  scene.  The 
people  of  one  street  did  it  — that  in  the  vicinity  of  the  gaol.  The  number 
of  police  to  be  sure,  —  (and  it  is  but  just  to  say  it,)  — that  guarded  the 
prisoner,  was  very  small,  but  it  mattered  little  — ten  times  the  number  would 
certainly  have  been  torn  piece-meal,  I  verily  believe,  but  for  the  vice-presi 
dents  and  wardens  of  our  clubs.  Never  in  all  my  life  did  I  witness  such 
determination. 

••  Mr.  Doheny  spoke  several  times  from  a  window  to  no  purpose.  The 
prominent  members  of  the  clubs  strove  with  all  their  might  to  open  a  pas 
sage  10  no  purpose;  everything  was  done  to  calm  the  populace,  but  nothing 
effected.  The  police  were  hurled  about  like  so  many  foot-balls.  They 
were  ordered  to  load  by  their  commander,  but  the  Hon.  Martin  Ffrench, 
our  worthy  magistrate,  countermanded  the  order.  At  last  Mr.  Doheny  again 
essayed  to  speak;  he  implored  the  people  by  the  love  they  bore  him,  by 
every  thing  they  held  dear,  to  let  him  go,  and  that  he  would  soon  return, 
for  his  offence  was  bailable,  and  that  he  had  only  to  go  to  Boscrea,  give 
bail,  and  then  return.  This,  and  this  alone,  pacified  the  people.  They 
shouted  '  We  will,  we  will,'  and  quickly  withdrew." 

MEMOIR  OF  MICHAEL  DOHENY. 

MICHAEL  DOHENY  was  born  at  Brookhill,  near  Fethard,  in  the  county 
of  Tipperary,  on  May  22,  1805.  His  father  was  of  the  class  known  as 
"  small  farmers,"  and  from  early  boyhood  until  he  achieved  a  competency 
by  his  industry,  genius,  and  indomitable  perseverance,  Michael  was  inured  to 
a  life  of  penury  and  toil.  His  father  was  too  poor  to  pay  for  his  children's 
education  in  the  neighboring  town;  but,  like  nearly  all  his  class  in  those 
days,  he  was  not  too  poor  to  accord  the  right  of  hospitality  to  the  wan 
dering  beggar,  the  "piper,"  or  the  "poor  scholar."  It  was  from  one  of 
the  latter,  whom  he  had  domiciled  under  his  humble  roof,  that  his  sou, 
Michael,  received  his  first  lessons  in  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic,  but 
from  the  age  of  ten  until  he  arrived  at  manhood  he  received  no  instruction 
whatever  except  what  was  derived  from  the  perusal  of  the  few  books  which 
came  in  his  way,  the  contents  of  which  he  devoured  with  avidity.  He  had 
attained  the  age  of  twenty-one  when,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  he  went 
to  school.  His  preceptor  was  a  celebrated  classical  and  mathematical  scholar 
named  Maher,  who  lived  near  Emly.  With  this  man  Michael  Doheny  re 
mained  for  nine  months,  paying  at  the  rate  of  five  shillings  a  quarter  for 


232  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

his  tuition ;  and  these  fifteen  shillings  was  all  the  money  ever  expended  on 
his  education. 

His  thirst  for  knowledge  and  the  force  of  his  native  intellect,  however, 
soon  made  up  for  his  lack  of  schooling,  and  he,  eventually,  became  a  pro 
ficient  in  the  science  of  mathematics,  as  well  as  an  excellent  classical  scholar. 
He  was  also  well  versed  in  the  Irish  language,  which  he  both  spoke  and 
wrote  fluently  and  correctly,  and  his  knowledge  of  the  history  and  litera 
ture  of  his  native  land  was  profound  and  extensive.  A  poet  him-elf  by  na 
ture,  the  music  and  poetry  of  his  country  had  ever  a  fascination  for  him; 
and  the  many  beautiful  songs  and  ballads,  both  original  and  translated, 
which,  in  moments  of  relaxation  from  more  serious  work,  he  has  given  to 
the  world,  would,  of  themselves,  entitle  him  to  a  high  place  in  the  estima 
tion  of  every  admirer  of  genuine  Irish  poetry. 

For  some  years  he  followed  the  profession  of  tutor  to  several  respectable 
families  in  the  county  Tipperary,  all  the  time  amassing  more  knowledge 
himself,  and  occasionally  contributing  articles  to  the  Irish  press. 

Emphatically  one  of  the  people,  he  was  a  partaker  of  all  their  pastimes, 
trials,  and  sorrows.  Possessed  of  a  strong  and  athletic  frame,  he  was  ever 
welcome  at  every  exhibition  of  rural  strength  or  agility  which  took  place 
for  miles  round  his  residence,  and  few  amongst  his  stalwart  compeers  of 
Tipperary  were  found  to  outmatch  him  at  foot-ball,  hurling,  race  or  stone- 
putting. 

Though  no  one  was  more  conversant  with  the  miseries  inflicted  on  the 
peasantry  through  the  agency  of  British  law;  though,  from  his  childhood, 
he  had  become  familiar  with  evictions,  domiciliary  visits,  and  tithe  dis 
traints,  which  fed  the  holy  hatred  that  he  had  imbibed  with  his  mother's 
milk ;  though  —  as  became  one  so  thoroughly  identified  with  his  persecuted 
race  —  he  occasionally  lent  the  assistance  of  his  counsel  and  his  arm  toward 
battling  and  counteracting  the  machinations  of  exterminators  and  tithe-raid 
ers;  yet,  until  he  had  attained  his  twenty-seventh  year,  he  kept  aloof  from 
each  and  all  of  the  various  political  organizations  which  sprang  up  period 
ically  in  Ireland.  For  he  had  no  sympathy  with  agitations  got  up  for  the 
purpose  of  opening  the  doors  of  official  patronage  to  the  hitherto  tabooed 
race  of  '"respectable  Catholics"  —  at  the  expense  of  their  toiling  co-religion 
ists;  he  despised  "ameliorations,"  and  believed  in  his  soul  that  nothing 
tending  to  the  benefit  of  Ireland  could  emanate  from  the  British  Parlia 
ment.  This  revolutionary  idea  he  inculcated  on  his  compatriots  long  before 
John  Mitchel  promulgated  it  with  such  effect  as  to  make  it  a  fundamental 
article  in  the  political  creed  of  Irish  nationalists. 

It    was    not,   therefore,   until    O'Connell    started    the    first  Repeal   Associa- 


OF  MICHAEL  DOHENY.  233 


tion,  in  1831,  that  Michael  Doheny  affiliated  himself  with  a  public  Irish 
organization.  He  then  regarded  a  Repeal  of  the  Union  as  nearly  equivalent 
to  an  independent  nationality.  So  strongly  did  the  hope  which  the  new 
movement  inspired  effect  his  honest  and  enthusiastic  nature,  that  he  deter 
mined  to  shape  his  future  course  in  life  so  as  to  make  it  subordinate  to 
the  great  end  it  had  in  view.  It  was  chiefly  on  this  account  that  he  chose 
the  bar  as  his  profession. 

He  attended  a  course  of  lectures  in  Dublin,  and  from  thence  he  pro 
ceeded  to  London,  where  he  became  a  student  in  the  Temple,  supporting 
himself,  in  the  meantime,  by  his  pen. 

On  being  admitted  to  the  bar  he  returned  to  Ireland,  where  he  soon 
after  married  Miss  Jane  O'Dwyer,  a  lady  of  one  of  the  best  families  of  the 
old  Celtic  stock,  in  Tipperary.  He  settled  to  practice  his  profession  in 
Cashel,  where  he  was  previously  well  known,  and  where  he  soon  became 
highly  popular  from  the  boldness  and  ability  with  which  he  defended  the 
poor  —  in  most  instances  without  fee  —  against  their  local  tyrants.  As  was 
to  be  expected,  he  incurred  the  hatred  of  the  latter  in  a  proportionate  de 
gree  ;  but  he  gloried  in  the  fact  —  and  he  flourished  on  their  animosity. 
After  the  passage  of  the  Municipal  Reform  Bill,  he  was  appointed  legal 
adviser  to  the  borough  of  Cashel,  and  in  that  capacity  he  recovered  consid 
erable  property  belonging  to  the  borough,  which  certain  parties  in  the  vicinity 
had,  for  a  length  of  time,  appropriated  to  their  private  use. 

This  legal  victory,  obtained  as  it  was,  over  the  representatives  of  the 
long  dominant  faction,  added  considerably  to  Doheuy's  fame  as  a  lawyer,  nact 
he  soon  was  in  a  fair  way  of  achieving  an  independence  through  the  exer 
cise  of  his  prolession. 

In  the  mean  time,  a  circumstance  occurred  which  confirmed  to  him  as 
a  man  the  golden  opinions  he  had  won  as  a  lawyer.  The  cholera,  for  the 
first  time,  had  broken  out  in  Cashel,  and  its  dreadful  ravages  spread  such 
consternation  and  dismay  throu^.iout  the  community,  that  most  of  t  lose 
whose  circumstances  permitted  fled  the  plague-stricken  town,  leaving  the 
onerous  task  of  taking  care  of  the  poor  to  a  few  noble-hearted  citizens, 
who  constituted  themselves  into  a  "  Board  of  Health,"  and  who,  night  and 
day,  were  constant  in  their  exertions  to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  their 
indigent  neighbors. 

Foremost  amongst  those  chivalrous  philanthropists  was  Doheny.  Such  was 
his  heroic  courage  and  Christian  charity  that  when  the  pestilence  became 
so  violent  that  even  the  very  men  hired  to  convey  the  sick  to  the  hospital, 
and  the  dead  to  the  grave,  abandoned  their  duty  and  fled,  terror-stricken 


234  ME  MO  IE  S  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FEANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

from  the  place,  he,  by  himself,  in  many  instances,  was  known  to  convey 
the  victims  of  the  disease  on  his  shoulders  to  their  destination. 

No  wonder  that  Michael  Doheny  was  revered  and  beloved  by  the  grateful, 
and  warm-hearted  people  who  witnessed  his  devotion  to  their  wants  in  those 
perilous  times. 

When,  deluded  by  Whig  promises,  O'Connell  was  induced  to  formally 
dissolve  the  first  Repeal  Association,  Doheny,  who  had  joined  the  organiza 
tion  with  a  sincere  determination  of  fighting  out  the  battle  to  the  end  —  felt 
disheartened  and  disgusted  at  the  collapse  of  his  cherished  hopes,  and  held 
aloof  from  the  several  political  organizations  which  succeeded  each  other  at 
intervals  during  the  ensuing  seven  years;  and  it  was  not  until  O'Connell  — 
having  thoroughly  tested  the  English  Whigs,  and  finding  them  false  in  every 
instance, — flung  party  affiliations  to  the  winds,  and  placing  his  sole  reli 
ance  on  the  patriotism  of  the  Irish  people,  founded,  in  1840,  the  great  Irish 
National  Repeal  Association,  —  that  the  earnest  Tipperary  man  again  "enlisted 
for  the  war." 

For  some  time  previous  to  his  formal  enrollment,  Doheny  had  been  in 
correspondence  with  Thomas  Davis,  then  an  active  member  of  the  associa 
tion  ;  and,  as  no  man  whose  neart  beat  truly  for  Ireland,  could  come  within 
the  sphere  of  Davis's  magic  influence  and  not  be  won  over  to  his  views,  it 
did  not  take  long  for  such  a  congenial  spirit  as  Doheny's  to  catch  the  sa 
cred  spark  from  that  heavenly  fire  which  was  destined  to  illume  the  island. 
Davis,  then,  it  was,  who  induced  Doheny  to  join  the  new  Repeal  Associa 
tion  ;  and  once  he  was  connected  with  it,  he  set  himself  resolutely  to  incul 
cate  its  doctrines  on  his  associates  in  town  and  country,  by  voice  and  pen, 
and  with  all  the  energies  he  could  command. 

The  Nation  had  been  started  some  time  previously,  and,  — outside  its 
three  illustrious  founders  —  Michael  Doheny  became  one  of  its  earliest  and 
most  valued  contributors,  and,  two  years  later,  when  the  writers  connected 
with  that  great  journal  determined  to  rescue  their  country's  literature  from 
the  abject  condition  in  which  it  had  so  long  lain,  and,  as  a  consequence  of 
this  resolution,  that  invaluable  series  of  national  works  known  as  u  The  Li 
brary  of  Ireland,"  was  projected,  Doheny  chose  for  the  subject  of  his  quota 
of  the  noble  work,  the  "  History  of  the  American  Revolution."  It  was  a 
theme  peculiarly  attractive  to  his  nature  —  the  successful  struggle  of  a  lib 
erty-loving  people  against  an  intolerable  tyranny  —  the  same  vile  power  which 
was  even  then  crushing  the  life-blood  out  of  his  own  Motherland.  How 
well  he  fulfilled  his  self-allotted  labor  of  love  can  best  be  understood  by  a 
perusal  of  the  work  itself. 

For    a    detailed    account    of    Doheny's    connection   with    the  events   of  the 


MEMO/It  OF  MICHAEL  DOIIENY.  '235 

three  years  succeeding  the  publication  of  the  Library  of  Ireland,  I  refer  my 
readers  to  '•  The  Felon's  Track,"  in  which  work  he  has  graphically  depicted 
the  history  of  that  period,  so  fraught  with  physical  suffering  and  ruined 
hopes,  to  the  land  and  the  people  he  loved  so  well.  Suffice  it  to  say 
here,  that,  in  those  trying  times,  no  man  bore  himself  more  courage 
ously,  or  labored  more  hopefully  and  persistently  in  his  country's  cause, 
thau  Michael  Doheny. 

And,   furthermore,   when   that   cause    sank  in  gloom  —  for  the  time  —  and 
he,   after  running 

"The  Outlaw's  dark  career," 

•  found,  with  some  of  his  compatriots  —  exiles  in  this  glorious  land  —  the  free 
dom  they  were  denied  at  home,  not  one  amongst  them  all  — previous  to  the 
arrival  of  JOHN  O'MAHONY  in  New  York  —  was  so  effective  and  so  indefat 
igable  in  the  work  of  creating  and  fostering  the  various  societies  of  Irish 
revolutionists  which  were  the  precursors  of  the  "  FENIAN  BROTHERHOOD." 
Iti  that  great  organization,  from  its  inception  to  his  death  he  was  the  ablest 
and  most  effective  associate,  as  he  was  the  most  intimate  friend  of  its  illus 
trious  founder. 

As  if  in  compensation  for  his  unswerving  fidelity  to  the  land  of  his 
birth  and  love,  he  was  destined  by  Providence  to  feast  his  eyes  on  it  once 
more  before  closing  them  for  ever  on  earth.  After  thirteen  years  of  exile 
lu-  returned  to  Ireland  to  lay  the  remains  of  his  fellow-rebel,  TERENCE  BEL- 
LEW  MACMANUS,  in  his  mother  earth.  His  reception  by  his  true-hearted 
countrymen  was  all  that  he  could  desire,  or  his  friends  feel  proud  of.  And 
BO.  after  fulfilling  his  sacred  mission,  and  devoting  a  couple  of  months  to 
revisiting  the  old  familiar  places  in  "Green  Erin  of  the  Streams,"  he  hope 
fully  re-crossed  the  Atlantic  to  labor  for  his  dear  Mother  with  renewed 
energy  — as  he  fondly  thought.  Alas!  in  two  months  after  landing,  his 
great,  warm  heart  was  at  rest.  His  death  took  place  on  the  1st  of  April, 
1882.  His  body  lies  in  Calvary  Cemeterjr. 

"  GOD'S   PEACE  TO  His  SOUL." 


23(3  MEMOIRS    OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 


CHAPTER;  XLII. 


THE  SLIEVENAMON  MEETING. 
(JULY   16,    1848.) 

Weep  the  great  Departed  — the  patriot-hearted  I 

With   life  they  paited  for  Ireland's  right; 
To  Shem  give  glory,  though  tyrants  gory 

Spread  the  false  story,  ''they  fled  in  fright." 
O,   'twas  small  terror!   we  fell  to  error, 

No  chiefs  there  were  or  an  ordered  van; 
Yet  when  came  war's  rattle  we  fled  not  battle, 

Though  like  herdle&s  cattle  on  Slievenamon! 

(A  '98  song  — From  the  Irish.    GEOKGK  SlGERSON  translator.) 

SITUATED  equidistant  between  the  towns  of  Clonmel  and  Carrick-on-Suir, 
and  looming  nearly  two  thousand  four  hundred  feet  above  the  glorious 
"Plain  of  Femhan,"  stands  sublime  and  alone  —  like  a  giant  sentinel  —  the 
mountain  now  known  as  Slievenamon  —  the  anglicized  form  of  the  ancient 
Gaelic  appellation  of  "  Sliabh-na-m  Ban  bh-Fionn,"  i.  e.  the  "  Mountain  of 
the  Fair  Women."  With  no  Irish  hill  are  there  more  ancient  traditions  con 
nected  —  some  of  them  extending  beyond  the  dawn  of  authenticated  history. 
But,  to  go  no  farther  back  than  the  third  century  of  the  Christian  era, 
there  is  sufficient  evidence,  both  historical  and  traditional,  to  prove  that  the 
stone  seat  on  its  summit,  known  by  the  name  of  Suidhe  Finn  (Suee-Finn,) 
i.  e.  " Finn's  Seat"  —  or  resting-place — was  so  called  from  the  fact  that 
Finn  MacCumhall,  chief  of  the  Fiann  of  Eireann,  was  wo*t  to  make  it  his 
station  while  his  warriors  were  engaged  in  the  chn=Q  o->  th«  plain  beneath. 
Certain  it  is,  that,  from  no  other  of  his  favorite  mountain-seats  —  from  end 
-o  end  of  the  island  —  could  the  warrior-hunter  enjoy  a  prospect  more  sub 
lime,  extensive,  varied,  and  beautiful. 

It  was  the  same,  in  all  its  natural  features,  that  Cromwell  gazed  upon, 
fourteen  centuries  later,  when  he  exclaimed :  — 

"  That  is  a  country  worth  fighting  for : 
No  Irishman  —  with    fighting    blood    pulsing  through  his  heart  —  will  dia- 


THE    SLIEVENAMON   MEETING.  237 

sent  from  the  assertion  —  were  it  even  made  by  the  arch-hell-hound  himself, 
instead  of  one  of  his  most  blood-thirsty  whelps. 

At  all  events,  not  one  such  man  could  be  found  among  the  fifty  thou 
sand  who  witnes-ed  the  prospect  from  the  brow  of  that  classic  hill  on  Sun 
day,  July  16th,  1848. 

For  that  was  the  place  and  the  time  selected  by  Meagher  and  Doheny 
on  which,  in  the  face  of  friend  and  foe  to  give  their  response  to  Claren 
don  and  his  subordinate  scoundrels.  Surely,  no  more  appropriate  spot  could 
be  found  from  which  to  recall  memories  of  the  past,  or  enkindle  hopes  for 
the  future  of  their  land. 

From  an  early  hour  on  that  beautiful  Sabbath  morning  unusual  excite 
ment'  was  exhibited  in  Carrick  and  the  surrounding  district;  for  "  Carrick 
Green"  was  the  appointed  rendezvous  where  the  clubs  of  the  town  and  its 
vicinity  were  to  form,  preparatory  to  their  march  on  Slievenamon. 

Long  before  the  time  of  meeting,  crowds  flocked  into  the  town  from 
the  counties  of  Waterford,  Kilkenny  and  even  Wexford.  while  the  roads  to 
the  mountain  were  blocked  with  people  enthusiastically  wending  their  way 
towards  the  appointed  rallying  spot.  Though,  as  the  sun  rose  higher  above 
the  eastern  horizon,  the  heat  became  intense;  and  though  the  ascent  to  the 
mountain-top  was  very  steep,  it  mattered  little  to  the  light-hearted,  sinewy- 
limbed  way-farers.  From  the  north  and  west  —  extending  from  the  banks 
of  the  Auiier  through  the  whole  length  of  the  "  Golden  Vale,"  and  beyond 
the  Limerick  border,  other  thousands  came  to  swell  the  concourse. 

Since  daylight  the  military  and  police  stationed  in  Cariick  were  under 
arms  in  their  respective  barracks,  under  the  orders  of  Mr.  Gore,  the  Resi 
dent  Magistrate.  But  heedless  of  them  or  their  possible  action,  the  Clubs 
drew  up  on  the  ••  Green "  under  their  respective  presidents,  and  promptly, 
at  the  time  appointed,  set  out  on  their  march  for  the  hill,  amid  the  wild 
est  exclamations  of  delight  and  defiance  from  the  townspeople  of  both  sexes 
—  who  were  physically  unfitted  for  the  arduous  task  of  breasting  the  lofty 
mountain.  The  upper  portion  of  the  hill  was  black  with  the  assembled 
multitude  already  arrived  at  the  goal  of  their  ambition,  when  a  cheer,  which 
extended  from  base  to  summit,  and  reverberated  from  all  sides  of  the  grand 
old  mountain,  heralded  the  approach  of  Michael  Doheny,  in  the  uniform  of 
the  '82  Club,  at  the  head  of  6,000  men  from  middle  Tipperary. 

At  2  P.  M.,  when  the  full  numbers  had  assembled,  it  was  computed 
that  50,000  men  stood  around  their  leaders  within  hearing  distance  of  "  Suidhe 
Finn.-" 

Mr.  James  O'Donnell  occupied  the  chair,  and  Mr.  Doheny  then  addressed 
the  meeting  in  a  thrilling  and  most  eloquent  speech  of  over  an  hour's  dur- 


233  ME  MOWS  OF  GEN    THOVAS  FRANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

ation.  He  dwelt  most  emphatically  on  the  urgent  necessity  of  the  people 
providing  themselves  with  arms  by  every  available  means  —  even  though 
every  foot  of  ground  in  Tipperary  was  "proclaimed" — "Where  there  was  a  will 
there  was  a  way  I"  He  spoke  on  the  utility  of  the  club  organization,  and  hoped 
that  it  soon  embrace  the  whole  people  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the 
other.  He  particularly  recommended  temperance  —  as  essential  to  success ; 
advised  the  people  to  be  orderly  and  calm,  firm  and  true,  and  not  fear  the 
result  of  the  impending  conflict.  He  concluded  amid  a  storm  of  enthusiastic 
cheers. 

MEAGHER?S  SPEECH  ON  SLIEVEXAMON. 

The  Limerick  Examiner  publish  d  the  annexed  report  of  Meagher's 
speech : — 

"Mr.  Meagher  next  appeared  in  the  tribune,  wearing  a  green  cap  with 
gold  band  and  a  splendid  tricolor  sash.  He  was  received  with  unbounded 
enthusiasm.  When  the  applause  subsided,  he  said:  — 

'Men  of  Tipperary,  I  feel  that  I  am  not  equal  to  this  occasion,  and  to 
your  expectation.  For  the  last  few  days  I  have  undergone  so  much  fatigue 
that  I  despair  of  giving  expression  to  my  sentiments  in  language  that  will 
command  this  audience,  reaching  its  utmost  limits,  and  in  thoughts  which 
the  cause  demands,  and  my  hopes  inspire. 

•You  have  heard  a  true  son  of  Irish  soil,  whose  rugged  virtues  partake 
of  the  character  of  the  country.  You  have  heard  him  say  that  I  am  to 
stand  my  trial  next  assizes,  which  will  be  "  the  day  after  the  fair.'1  (Laugh 
ter).  If  there  is  any  one  here  to  communicate  the  proceedings  of  this  meet 
ing  to  the  government,  I  trust  that  they  will  find  out  that  they  have 
made  a  great  mistake  in  arresting  me,  (hear,  hear,  and  loud  cheers,  and 
"  You  shall  never  follow  Mitchel.")  I  am  here  not  only  to  repent  of  nothing, 
but  to  dare  them  to  do  something  worse. 

'  When  I  threw  myself  into  this  movement,  when  I  was  scarcely  yet  of 
age,  I  did  not  do  so  to  gain  an  honorable  name  for  any  purpose  of  profit 
or  emolument.  I  felt  that  I  lived  in  a  land  of  slavery,  and  that  if  God 
gave  me  intellect,  it  ought  to  be  employed  for  the  country.  It  was  with 
this  feeling  I  joined  the  cause  of  Ireland  at  a  moment  when  every  nation 
wished  to  see  her  flag  unfurled  on  these  hills.  (Tremendous  cheering). 

1 "  Forty- three "    passed    away,    but    its    vows    have    not    passed    away, 
wish  I  had  the  eloquence  of    him  who  then   stirred  up  the  country.     O'Con- 
nell,   like    all    great    men,   had    his   faults  —  but    he    had    his  virtues  —  and  he 
had  victories.     This  I  will   say,  that  he  preached  a  cause  that  we  are  bound 


MEAGHEKS  SPEECH  ON  SLIEVENAMOV.  239 

Ito  see  out.     He  used   to  say  —  "I    may  not  see  what   I  have  labored  for. 
am    an    old    man  — my    arm    is    withered  —  no    epitaph    of    victory  may  mark 
my  grave  —  but    I    see  a  young  generation  with  redder  blood  in   their  veins, 
and    they  will  do    the    work."     (Cheers).     Therefore  it  is   that  I  ambition  to 
decorate  these  hills   with  the   flag  of  my   country. 

'  A  scourge  came  from  God  which  .ought  to  have  stirred  you  up  into 
greater  action.  The  potato  was  smiten ;  but  your  fields  waved  with  gol 
den  grain.  It  was  not  for  you.  To  your  lips  it  was  forbidden  fruit. 
The  ships  came  and  bore  it  away,  and  when  the  price  rose  it  came  back, 
but  not  for  the  victims  whose  lips  grew  pale,  and  quivered,  and  opened  no 
more.  (Sensation).  Did  I  say  that  they  opened  no  more?  Yes,  they  did 
open  in  Heaven,  to  accuse  your  rulers.  Those  lips,  beautiful  and  fresh 
with  the  light  of  God  —  (sensation)  —  supplicated  His  throne,  and  He  has 
blessed  our  cause.  (Cheers).  The  fact  is  plain,  that  this  land,  which  is 
yours  by  nature,  and  by  God's  gift,  is  not  yours  by  the  law  of  the  laud. 
—  There  were  bayonets,  therefore,  between  the  people  and  their  rightful 
food. 

'Are  ye  content  that  the  harvest  of  this  land  which  you  see,  %and  to 
which  your  labor  has  imparted  fruitfulness,  should  again  be  reaped  for  the 
stranger?  (Loud  cries  of  no,  no).  Walking  in  this  glorious  scenery,  Crom 
well  said:  —  "Is  not  this  a  land  worth  fighting  for?"  (Loud  cheers,  and 
cries  of  we  would  fight  and  die  for  it).  There  always  appeared  to  me  a 
cloud  on  its  brightest  scenery,  because  it  did  not  belong  to  its  inhabitants  — 
because  our  flag  was  not  here.  The  flag  of  England  waves  over  all  your 
institutions. 

'The  famine  came  and  then  their  coercion  laws.  (Hear,  hear).  Then  a 
gallant  man,  young  and  brave,  with  a  young  wife  and  young  children,  who, 
if  they  were  not  made  of  heroic  clay,  would  have  caught  him  to  their 
breasts  before  he  went  forth  to  preach  the  glorious  gospel,  that  "the  life  of 
a  peasant  is  worth  the  life  of  a  lord/'  (Loud  and  continued  cheers).  That 
gospel  went  through  the  country,  and  you  said  it  was  the  true  one.  (Cries 
of  "  so  it  is.")  Because  he  preached  this  they  took  him,  threw  him  into  a 
prison,  and  banished  him  from  his  own  native  land.  (Cries  of  "  we'll  bring 
him  back.") 

'  There  is  a  stain  on  the  nation  while  he  remains  in  Bermuda.  He  does 
not  sleep  —  his  feverish  chafed  spirit  knows  no  rest.  —  He  is  listening  day  by 
day  to  the  sound  of  the  waves,  thinking  that  in  those  sounds  will  come  his 
liberty  and  yours.  (Applause).  Because  he  does  not  rest,  you  ought  not  to 
rest.  He  stood  up  before  his  judges,  and  he  said,  "  You  have  done  your 
duty  — I  have  done  mine."  Like  the  Roman  youth,  who,  standing  before  tha 


240  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

tyrant,  put  his  hand  into  the  fire  till  it  was  burned,  and  said  — '  there  are 
three  hundred  to  follow  my  example.'  I  will  promise  for  one,  two,  three, 
aye,  for  three  hundred."  (Tremendous  cheering).  He  uttered  that  prophecy, 
and  he  is  not  deceived.  Others  have  stepped  into  the  breach,  and  Newgate 
will  hereafter  be  dedicated  in  our  history  as  the  temple  of  liberty. 

'  Will  you  permit  the  country  to  be  deprived  of  these  men  ?  (Loud 
cries  of  "never,"  and  tremendous  cheering).  I  stand  here  upon  the  lofty 
summit  of  a  country  which,  if  we  do  not  win  for  ourselves,  we  must  win 
for  those  who  come  after  us.  (Hear,  hear).  As  my  friend  said  to-day, — 
"You  will  mount  higher  than  this,  and  face  a  more  burning  sun."  (Cries 
of  "aye,  the  top  of  the  cannoc.")  No  man  came  here  to-day  that  is  not 
determined  to  brave  the  worst  the  foe  can  do.  I  have  not  come  here  for 
speech-making,  but  to  teach  you  the  duties  you  owe  yourselves  and  the 
prisoners.' 

"  Some  other  speakers  then  addressed  th«  meeting,  which  finally  sepa 
rated  about  seren  o'clock," 


CHAPTER    XLIII. 

THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  THE    CLUBS.  —  DUBLIN,   DROGHEDA,   CORK 

AND  WATERFORD  PROCLAIMED. —THE  HABEAS 

CORPUS  ACT   SUSPENDED. 

The  genuine  passion  of  the  people,  which  In  a  great  crisis  IB  as  real  and  torrlble  as 
elemental  fire,  was  found  In  the  clubs  alone.  Nearly  all  that  was  formidable  to  England 
or  hopeful  to  Ireland,  was  concentrated  In  them. 

CHARLES  GAVAN  DUFFY. 

On  the  morning  after  Meagher's  departure  from  Dublin  to  Limerick,  I 
met  Devin  Reilly,  (who  had  hastened  back  from  Monaghau  on  learning  the 
arrest  of  the  national  editors).  After  our  first  greeting,  I  asked  him  what 
lie  "thought  of  the  state  of  affairs  now?" 

"Faith!"  he  replied,  "I  did  not  think  they  would  all  have  been  laid 
by  the  heels  so  soon." 

"  Oh ! "  said  I,  "  I  did  not  refer  to  them,  but  to  the  boys  of  Water- 
ford  and  Cashel.  Had  you  been  there  what  would  you  do?" 


SUSPENSION  OF  THE  HABEAS   COlll'UX  241 

"  You  may  be  sure  I  would  not  have  stopped  them,  my  boy !  —  but 
*  taken  them  while  in  the  humor.' " 

"Well  I  knew  it!  — I'm  sorry  you  missed  the  chance,  for  such  oppor 
tunities  don't  often  come  to  us !  " 

"That's  true;  but  brace  up  your  heart;  this  state  of  things  can't  last 
much  longer ;  the  Government  won't  stay  its  hand  now  —  until  they  force  a 
crisis." 

It  was  even  as  he  had  foreseen.  The  next  move  of  the  Castle  authori 
ties  was  directed  to  the  disarming  and  suppression  of  the  Clubs.  They  had 
been  urged  to  take  this  step  for  some  weeks  past  by  the  conservative  press 
and  the  landlord  garrison ;  but  hesitated  until  the  Slievenamon  meeting  warned 
them  that,  if  they  were  to  act  at  all,  they  must  act  promptly. 

Accordingly,  three  days  after  Tipperary  had  spoken,  Clarendon  issued  a 
proclamation  ordering  all  persons  who  lived  in  proclaimed  districts,  and  were 
not  specially  licensed,  to  give  up  their  arms  and  ammunition  within  four 
days,  on  penalty  of  a  year's  imprisonment  with  hard  labor. 

All  Tipperary,  and  several  other  well-known  disaffected  districts,  had  been 
"  proclaimed "  long  before  this  ukase  was  issued ;  but  now,  in  order  to  strike 
at  the  Clubs  in  their  strongholds,  Dublin,  Cork,  Waterford  and  Drogheda, 
were  immediately  proclaimed. 

Meagher,  for  Waterford,  promptly  responded  to  the  "stand  and  deliver" 
order  of  the  Castle  brigand.  No  sooner  was  the  "  Lion  and  Unicorn "  noti 
fication  posted  in  his  native  city  than  he  issued  a  counter  proclamation 
with  the  "  Harp  on  the  Green,"  calling  upon  the  people  to  disregard  the 
Castle ;  to  stand  to  their  arms ;  continue  their  Club  organization,  and  wait  reso 
lutely  and  calmly  for  the  orders  of  their  chosen  leaders.  This  proclamation 
was  posted  on,  or  beside,  every  copy  of  that  stuck  up  by  Her  Majesty's 
knights  of  the  paste-pot,  in  the  "  Urbs  Intacta.1''1  I  saw  several  of  them  in 
"cheek-by-jowl"  proximity  ten  days  later. 

Both  Charles  Gavan  Duffy,  and  John  Martin,  from  their  cells  in  New 
gate,  wrose  articles  for  their  respective  papers,  signed  with  their  initials, 
advising  the  people  to  keep  their  arms.  The  editor  of  the  Nation  said  em 
phatically  :  — 

"For  myself,  if  the  people  are  robbed  of  their  arms  —  if  the  Clubs  are 
broken  up  —  if  all  the  organization  and  discipline  won  with  such  toil  are 
flung  away  in  an  hour  —  if  the  spirit  of  the  country,  so  universally  evoked, 
be  again  permitted  to  die  out  —  if  these  things  can  happen  after  the  terri. 
ble  lessons  we  have  before  us,  written  in  the  blood  and  tears  of  the  nation, 
I,  for  one,  will  not  curse  the  packed  jury  that  sends  me  far  from  such  a 
spectacle." 
16 


242  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

John  Martin's  manly  advice  on  this  occasion  constituted  the  principal 
article  in  the  indictment  on  which  he  was  convicted. 

But  the  Clubs  did  not  wait  for  the  advice  of  their  imprisoned  leaders, 
nor  for  the  action  of  the  government  which  led  thereto.  Clearly  anticipat 
ing  what  was  sure  to  occur  soon,  they,  —  on  Sunday,  July  16th,  —  on  the 
very  hour  that  the  Slievenamon  meeting  was  being  held  —  held  special  meet 
ings  in  their  several  halls,  for  the  purpose,  first,  of  ascertaining  their  numer 
ical  strength,  the  quantity  and  quality  of  arms  on  hand,  and  the  opinion 
of  the  members  as  to  the  advisability  of  meeting  the  Government's  expected 
assault  by  a  general  uprising  in  Dublin:  and,  secondly,  to  elect  delegates 
to  represent  them  at  a  meeting  —  to  be  held  on  the  next  evening  —  and  at 
which  it  was  expected  a  supreme  Executive  Committee  would  be  elected. 

The  meeting  of  the  Swift  Club  on  this  most  important  occasion,  was 
presided  over  by  Mr.  John  Smith,  the  venerable  '98  veteran.  In  the  discus 
sion  which  took  place,  it  was  developed  that  the  members  were  overwhelm 
ingly  in  favor  of  fighting  on  the  first  attempt  of  the  Government  to  disarm 
them.  Nearly  all  the  members  were  armed  with  either  rifles  or  pikes  —  in 
the  proportion  of  about  one  of  the  former  to  two  of  the  latter.  But.  in 
the  event  of  a  fight,  more  than  half  the  Club  would  be  supplied  with  fire 
arms,  for,  when  the  project  of  seizing  on  the  contents  of  the  gun-shops  was 
referred  to,  one  of  the  members  —  a  gun-smith,  and,  perhaps,  the  most  exten 
sive  dealer  in  fire-arms  then  in  Dublin,  announced,  that,  when  the  hour  of 
action  came,  his  stock  in  trade,  with  his  life,  was  at  the  service  of  Ireland; 
that  he  had  an  inventory  of  the  several  classes  of  weapons,  which  —  with  a 
requisite  portion  ot  proper  ammunition — he  would  turn  over  to  the  officers 
of  the  Club  —  taking  a  receipt  lor  the  same,  and  trusting  to  be  paid  the 
price  thereof  by  an  Irish  National  Government  —  if  the  cause  was  success 
ful  —  and  he  survived  the  contest. 

Two  delegates  were  then  elected,  and  instructed  to  vote  on  behalf  of 
the  Club — for  jiyhtiny  —  when  called  on. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Club  delegates  was  held  at  the  Council-Rooms 
on  Monday  evening,  July  17th.  Smith  O'Brien  was  present.  But,  save  a 
return  of  the  reports,  as  to  the  state  of  preparedness  of  the  several  Clubs, 
no  business  was  then  transacted.  On  the  20th  —  when  Dublin  was  proclaimed, 
—  another  meeting  of  the  delegates  was  held,  at  which  it  was  supposed 
some  definite  plan  of  action,  suited  to  the  emergency,  would  be  adopted. 
It  was  the  most  important  meeting — in  its  consequences  to  the  Irish  cause  — 
held  in  Dublin  during  that  year.  When  the  question  of  what  was  to  be 
done  in  response  to  the  Government  proclamation  came  up  for  discussion, 
Joseph  Brennan,  —  one  of  the  most  gifted,  earnest  and  enthusiastic  young 


Jy  9F  THE  HABEAS   COUP  US.  243 


men  in  Ireland,  moved,  on  behalf  of  the  St.  Patrick's  Club,  of  which  he 
was  a  delegate,  "  That  the  Clubs  anticipate  the  Government  attack,  and  STRIKE 
AT  ONCE  —  before  the  search  for  arms  had  commenced.'1'  The  motion  being  duly 
seconded,  John  Dillon  moved  an  amendment  to  the  effect  —  "  That  the  people 
should  be  recommended  to  CONCEAL  THEIR  ARMS.  —  and  r/h-?.  a  passive  resist 
ance  to  the  proclamation.'"  Smith  O'Brien  supported  John  Dillon,  and  a  most 
animated  debate  ensued,  in  the  course  of  which  it  was  argued  by  some  one  in 
favor  of  a  waiting  policy,  that  "the  people  were  not  yet  sufficiently  pre 
pared  for  a  conflict." 

In  reply  to  this  ;*  waiter  on  Providence,"  "  Bob.  Ward,"  in  a  tone  of 
passionate  scorn,  exclaimed:  — 

aNot  yet  sufficiently  prepared!  There  are  some  people  who  will  never 
be  prepared  —  fellows  who,  —  if  the  Almighty  rained  down  rifles  ready  loaded 
from  Heaven,  —  would  ask  Him  to  send  dqwn  angels  to  pick  them  up  and  fire 
them.'' 

Smith  O'Brien  gazed  with  astonishment  at  the  indignant  extempore  ora 
tor,  but  no  one  attempted  to  reply  to  his  caustic,  and  very  original  defini 
tion  of  the  excuse-making  do-nothings. 

Dillon's  motion  was,  eventually,  carried  by  a  small  majority,  after  which 
the  convention  adjourned  for  two  days. 

The  decision  arrived  at  at  the  meeting  above  recorded,  settled  the  ques 
tion  as  to  any  future  combined  action  of  the  Dublin  Clubs.  The  individual 
members,  in  obedience  to  orders,  concealed  their  arms,  but  they  never  received 
orders  to  take  them  up  again;  for.  within  a  week,  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act 
was  suspended^  and  the  leaders  to  avoid  immediate  arrest,  had  to  abandon 
the  capital  for  the  country  districts.  It  is  useless  to  speculate  now  on  what 
might  have  occurred  had  a  different  line  of  action  been  adopted  at  that 
meeting,  and  J  do  not  propose  dealing  with  the  subject  —  further  than  to 
give  expression  to  the  thought  —  often  since  forced  upon  me  —  that,  had  the 
brave,  chivalrous,  and  devoted  John  Dillon,  imagined,  that  before  the  com 
ing  week  was  over,  he  would  be  confronting  England's  soldier?,  on  a  barri 
cade,  in  command  of  a  few  hundred  half-armed  peasants  —  to  whom  he  was, 
until  then,  a  perfect  stranger  —  he  would  have  preferred  to  take  his  stand,  ag 
he  might  have  done,  at  the  dead  of  ten  thousand  organized  and  intelligent 
comrades  in  the  streets  of  Dublin. 

But  to  return  to  the  history  of  this  eventful  week  —  the  last  I  spent 
(at  that  period)  in  the  national  capital. 

A  public  meeting  was  held  the  night  after  the  Castle  proclamation  was  issued 
At  this  meeting  Smith  O'Brien  reported  the  result  of  his  tour  of  inspection 
in  the  South.  It  was  highly  encouraging.  Among  the  statements  it  con- 


244  MEMO  IE  S   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FEANGIS  MEAGHEE. 

tained  was  the  important  fact  that,  in  Cork  he  met  ten  thousand  organized 
Confederates,  and  as  many  more  able-bodied  men  who  promised  to  act  with 
them.  He  also  stated  that  throughout  the  country  districts  the  national  feeling 
was  deep  and  wide-spread. 

At  the  adjourned  meeting  of  the  Club  delegates  held  on  Saturday,  July 
22d,  John  Dillon  in  the  chair,  an  executive  council  of  five  was  chosen, 
which,  thenceforth,  was  to  have  supreme  control  of  the  revolutionary  move 
ment.  The  members  elected  were  John  Dillon,  Thomas  F.  Meagher,  Richard 
O'Gorman,  Thomas  Darcy  McGee,  and  Thomas  Devin  Reilly.  Mr.  O'Brien, 
who  was  not  present  at  the  meeting,  was,  by  his  own  desire,  omitted  from 
the  list,  as  his  special  duties  would  take  him  next  morning  to  Wexford, 
to  continue  his  inspection  of  the  South.* 

The  newly-elected  executive  was  never  convened.  O'Gorman  left  Dublin 
for  Limerick  immediately  after  the  adjournment  of  the  meetiag,  his  mission 
being  to  take  charge  of  the  movement  in  Thomond,  wherein  was  situated 
the  patrimonial  tribe-lands  of  his  ancestral  clan. 

He  had  left  the  city  but  a  few  hours,  when  the  news  came  that,  on 
the  same  day,  Lord  John  Russell  had  carried  through  the  House  of  Com 
mons,  without  the  least  opposition,  a  bill  to  suspend  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  in 
Ireland,  and  that  it  would  be  passed  by  the  House  of  Lords  and  become 
law  on  the  following  Monday. 

This  action  on  the  Government's  part,  might  have  been  anticipated  at 
any  moment  since  the  arrests  of  the  editors,  but  that  "  Liberal "  Irish  Mem 
bers  of  Parliament,  elected  for  the  most  part  by  the  popular  vote,  should 
be  so  utterly  devoid  of  national  spirit,  and  so  basely  subservient  to  their 
country's  oppressors  —  as  to  let  this  blow  in  the  dark  be  strucK  at  their 
motherland  without  an  attempt  to  parry  it,  or  a  single  cry  of  warning  — 
this  depth  of  treachery  the  people  were  not  prepared  for  Yet  it  is  a  fact 
that,  not  only  was  no  opposition  offered  to,  or  warning  given  of  this  ne 
farious  act,  but  that  some  Irish  Members,  who, —  both  before  and  since  — 
posed  as  "  patriots "(?)  actually  voted  for  the  passage  of  the  bill. 

It  was  through  a  private  dispatch  received  at  the  office  of  the  Freeman's 
Journal  that  the  news  became  known  in  Dublin  in  time  to  give  the  popular 
leaders  then  in  the  city,  a  brief  warning  of  what  was  impending  over  them 
and  their  compatriots.  A  few  of  these  leaders,  including  three  members  of 
the  Executive  Council, —  Meagher,  Dillon,  and  McGee  — met  at  the  Council- 
Room  in  D'Olier  street. 

The  result  of  their  deliberation  is  recorded  in  the  annexed  extract   from  a 

*Four  Years  of  Irish  History,  page  639. 


^TAKING    THE  FIELD."  245 


personal  narrative  by  Meagher,  entitled — "  A  Memoir  of  Forty- Eight,"  —  which 
originally  appeared  in  the  Dublin  Nation,  while  the  writer  was  still  a  state- 
prisoner  in  Australia. 


CHAPTER   XLIV. 

"TAKING   THE  FIELD." 

(FROM  "  MEAGIIER'S  MEMOIRS  OF  FORTY-EIGHT.") 

"When  we  reached  the  Oounoil-"Room?  we  found and  MeGee 

there,  and,  after  a  short  conversat'oi  with  them,  it  was  arranged  that  the 
former  should  leave  in  the  evening  f  n-  Paris,  put  himself  immediately  into 
communication  with  ihe  musi  intluential  Irishmen  residing  in  that  city, 
and  leave  nothing  undone  to  procure  a  military  intervention,  in  the  event 
of  the  insurrection  we  contemplated  taking  place. 

"In  a  few  hours  he  sailed  from  Kingstown;  and  I  have  lately  heard, 
from  a  trusted  source,  that  the  duties  he  undertook  were  performed  by  him 
with  great  ardor,  intelligence  and  success ;  that,  in  fact,  owing  to  his  ear 
nest  representations,  the  armed  intervention  of  the  French  government  would 
have  taken  place,  had  we  mnde  a  good  beginning,  and  shown  ourselves  wor 
thy  of  so  honorable  an  assistance. 

"As  for  McGee,  he  volunteered  to  start  the  same  evening  for  Belfast, 
cross  over  to  Glasgow,  and  lie  concealed  there  until  he  heard  from  Dillon. 
Should  he  receive  any  favorable  information,  he  was  to  summon  the  Irish 
population  of  that  city  to  rise  and  attack  whatever  troops  were  intrusted 
with  its  defence.  In  case  of  these  troops  being  overpowered,  he  should  seize 
two  or  three  of  the  largest  merchant  steamers  lying  in  the  Clyde;  with 
pi-tols  to  their  heads,  compel  the  engineers  and  sailors  to  work  them  out; 
steer  round  the  north  coast  of  Ireland;  and  at  the  head  of  two  thousand 
men,  or  more,  if  he  could  get  them,  make  a  descent  on  Sligo;  fight  his 
way  across  the  Shannon  and  join  us  in  Tipperary.* 


*  NOTE.— Viewing  this  project  in  after  years  — In  the  light  of  his  well-earned  military 
experience,  how  Meagher  must  have  smiled  at  its  absurdity?  For,  even  admitting  that 
the  first  part  of  the  proposed  scheme  was  feasible,  — and  thkt  a  landing  could  be  made  at 


246  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGUER. 

''  This  project  may  now  appear  a  monstrously  absurd  one.  At  the  time, 
however,  many  circumstances  concurred  to  give  it  a  rational,  sober,  practi 
cable  character.  Adventurous,  bold,  and  dangerous  in  the  highest  degree,  it 
certainly  was,  to  the  individual  who  proposed  and  ventured  to  conduct  it. 
But.  once  taken  in  hand  by  our  country  men  in  Glasgow,  no  doubt  coui- 
have  been  entertained  of  its  accomplishment.  Not  alone,  that  the  Irish  then 
numbered  several  thousands;  not  alone  that  Chartism  was  on  the  watch 
there,  and  panting  for  an  outbreak ;  but  the  city  was  almost  wholly  defence 
less  ;  the  troops  of  the  line  had  been  drafted  off  to  other  places :  and,  as  a 
substitute  an  awkward  militia  force  had  been  hastily  patched  up,  and  strapped 
together. 

"The  project,  however, — whether  it  was  good  or  bad  —  did  not  origi 
nate  exclusively  with  McGee.  In  proposing  it  to  us,  he  was  acting  in  obe 
dience  to  the  wishes  of  three  Delegates  who  had  arrived  in  Dublin  the 
previous  evening,  and  had  been  instructed  by  a  large  body  of  Irishmen,  res 
ident  in  Glasgow,  to  lay  the  project  in  question  before  the  chief  men  of 
the  Clubs,  and  urge  them  to  sanction,  encourage,  and  direct  it. 

"That  evening,  McGee  started  for  Belfast;  and,  next  day,  crossed  ovt-r 
to  Scotland;  where,  I  have  since  learned,  from  a  Catholic  clergyman  of  high 
integrity  and  intellect,  he  went  through  the  difficult  and  perilous  business 
he  had  undertaken,  with  singular  energy,  tact  and  firmness;  and  for  several 
days  stood  fully  prepared  to  carry  out  the  views  just  stated  had  Dillon  or 
I  sent  him  word  to  do  so. 

"Why  we  failed  to  communicate  with  him  will  be  easily  learned  from 
the  sequel  of  this  letter. 

"  Yet,  upon  a  moment's  reflection,  I  think  it  may  be  more  satisfactory 
for  me  to  state  at  once,  that  in  consequence  of  no  decisive  blow  havius 
been  struck  in  Tipperary,  we  felt  we  could  not  be  justified  in  bringing  our 
friend,  and  the  men  under  him,  into  collision  with  the  Government.  He  was 
to  take  the  field  in  the  event  of  our  establishing  a  good  footing  in  the 


Sligo—  the  idea  that  a  body  of  men,  partially  armed,  wholly  undisciplined,  and  led  by  a 
stranger  both  to  his  command,  and  to  the  country  through  which  lay  his  line  of  march, 
—  and,  more  over,  one  unacquainted  with  even  the  ludiments  of  military  knowledge  — 
could  undertake  to  traverse  three  counties  and  pass  the  Shannon,  (barred  as  the  route  was 
by  the  strategic  line  of  railway  connecting  Dublin,  Athlone  and  Galway— and  the  inter- 
mediate  garrisons,)  was  so  utterly  Quixotic,  that  it  la  incomprehensible  how  any  man  — 
bent  on  conducting  a  national  insurrection  —  could  entertain  It  for  a  moment:  That  our 
Irish  leaders,  admittedly,  did  so,  was  such  an  evidence  of  their  military  Incapacity  as 
would,  of  itself,  sufficiently  account  for  the  failure  of  '43,  were  there  no  other  (unfore 
seen)  impediments  to  be  encountered. 


TAKING    THE  FIELD."  247 


South ;  and  this  not  having  been  accomplished,  it  would  have  been  treach 
erous  on  our  part  to  have  written  a  line  directing  him  to  explode  the  con 
spiracy  he  had  organized. 

'•Having  parted  with  -  —  and  McGee,  Dillon  and  I  went  up  stairs 
to  the  room  used  for  private  committees,  took  down  the  large  map  of  Ire 
land  which  hung  there,  and  folding  it  up  with  the  intention  of  bringing  it 
with  us  to  the  country,  returned  to  the  room  in  which  Halpin  and  his 
assistants  were  at  work. 

"  We  desired  the  former  to  let  Duffy,  Martin,  and  the  other  Confederate? 
in  Newgate,  know  of  our  going  to  the  country,  and  our  resolution  ol 
commencing  the  insurrection,  if  possible,  in  Kilkenny. 

"  We  further  desired  him  to  communicate,  in  the  course  of  the  evening,  with- 
the  officers  of  Clubs;  inform  them  of  our  intentions;  and  desire  them  to  be  in 
readiness  to  rise,  and  barricade  the  streets,  when  the  news  of  our  being  in  the 
field  should  reach  them;  and  when,  as  an  inevitable  result,  three  or  four  regi 
ments  from  the  Dublin  garrison  had  been  drawn  off  to  reinforce  the  troops  of 
the  southern  districts '' 

[I  have  italicized  the  foregoing  paragraph  in  Mr.  Meagher's  narrative,  for 
the  purpose  of  directing  my  readers'  particular  attention  to  the  important 
statement  made  therein  —  and,  because  I  intend  to  show,  in  the  next  chap 
ter  of  this  work,  that  not  only  were  the  Clubs  not  notified  on  the  evening 
in  question  of  the  instructions  left  by  the  members  of  the  Executive  Coun 
cil  for  their  guidance,  but  that,  —  two  days  afterwards  —  in  answer  to  a  direct 
question  —  Mr.  Halpin  denied  positively  having  received  any  instructions  what 
soever  for  the  guidance  of  the  Clubs,  from  the  gentlemen  in  question  before 
their  departure  from  Dublin.] 

u  We  had  wished  good-bye  to  Ilalpin,   and   were  going  out,   when  young 

R H and   Smyth  came  up.    We  told  them   the  arrangements   we  had 

made;  intreated  them  to  go  round  to  the  different  clubs  that  evening  — 
state  openly  to  the  members  what  we  proposed  doing  —  communicate  to 
them  our  wishes ;  and  exhort  them  to  observe  a  calm,  patient  attitude,  un 
til  the  moment  we  designated  for  their  coming  into  action  had  arrived. 

"They  promised  faithfully  to  do  so. 

"We  arrived  at  the  Kingstown  railway  station  just  in  time  to  catch  the 
5  o'clock  train. 

"  The  carriages  were  crowded,  and  the  conversation  very  noisy  about  the 
Suspension  Act.  I  retain  a  vivid  picture  of  one  gentleman  in  particular ;  a  very 
still',  cold,  sober  gentleman,  with  red  whiskers  and  a  gambouge  complexion ; 
who  took  occasion  to  remark,  in  quite  a  startling  and  fragmentary  style, 
that  '  the  Government  had  done  the  thing  —  the  desirable  thing  —  at  last  — 


248  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

•time  for  them  —  should  have  been  done  long  ago  —  country  had  gone  half 
way  to  the  devtt  already — Whigs  always  ii  f «jrnally  slow  —  had  given  those 
scoundrels  too  much  rope  —  but  they'd  hang  themselves  —  he'd  swear  it  — 
that  he  would.' 

"I  nudged  Dillon  at  the  conclusion  of  these  consoling  observations.  He 
threw  a  quiet,  humorsome  look  at  the  loyal  subject  with  the  red  whiskers 
and  gambouge  complexion,  and  burst  out  laughing.  He  was  joined  by  some 
gentlemen,  and  two  or  three  ladies,  who  recognized  us,  but  little  suspected, 
I  should  say,  the  errand  we  were  on. 

"At  Kingstown  we  got  upon  the  Atmosphere  Railway,  and  rattled  off 
•to  Dalkey.  Half  an  hour  after,  we  were  at  dinner  in  Druid  Lodge,  Killi- 
ney,  where  Mrs.  Dillon  was  staying  at  the  time. 

"I  should  have  mentioned,  before  this,  that  whilst  Dillon  and  I  were  at 
the  Council-Rooms  in  D'Olier  street,  Lawless  went  to  the  office  of  the  Wex- 
ford  coach,  and  engaged  for  us  two  inside  seats,  as  far  as  Enniscorthy,  in  that 
night's  mail,  leaving  word  with  the  clerk  that  the  gentlemen  for  whom  he 
had  engaged  the  seats  were  to  be  taken  up  at  Loghlinstown;  a  little  village 
seven  miles  from  Dublin,  and  little  more  than  two  from  Druid  Lodge. 

"  The  places  were  taken  in  the  name  of  Charles  Hart,  with  a  view  to 
conceal  our  departure  from  the  police,  who  were  on  the  alert;  picking  our, 
in  every  nook  and  corner,  information  relative  to  our  movements. 

"At  half-past  eight  we  left  Druid  Lodge  for  Loghlinstown.  We  did  not 
enter  the  village,  however;  but  drew  up  at  the  tree,  opposite,  I  believe,  to 
Sir  George  Cockburn's  demesne. 

"  There,  underneath  that  fine  old  tree,  we  remained  for  about  twenty 
minutes,  until  the  coach  came  up,  and,  whilst  we  were  standing  in  silence 
under  it,  surrounded  by  the  darkness,  which  the  deepening  twilight,  ming 
ling  with  the  shadow  of  the  leaves,  threw  round  us,  I  could  not  but  reflect, 
with  something  of  a  heavy  heart,  upon  the  troubled  Future,  within  the  con 
fines  of  which  I  had  set  my  foot,  never  to  withdraw  it. 

"The  evening,  which  was  cold  and  wet,  the  gloom  and  stillness  of  the 
spot,  naturally  gave  rise  to  sentiments  of  a  melancholy  nature.  But,  above 
all,  a  feeling,  which,  for  many  days,  had  more  or  less  painfully  pressed  upon 
my  mind,  and  which,  in  some  cf  the  most  exciting  scenes  I  had  lately 
passed  through,  failed  not  to  exercise  a  saddening  influence  upon  my  thoughts 
and  language  —  the  feeling  that  we  were  aiming  far  beyond  our  strength, 
and  launching  our  young  resources  upon  a  sea  of  troubles,  through  which 
the  Divine  hand  alone  could  guide  and  save  them;  this  feeling,  more  than 
all,  depressed  me  at  the  moment  of  which  I  speak,  and  I  felt  far  from  being 
happy. 


'TAKING    THE  FIELD"  249- 


"At  that  moment,  I  entertained  no  hope  of  success.  I  knew  well  the 
people  were  unprepared  for  a  struggle;  but,  at  the  same  time  I  felt  con 
vinced  that  the  leading  men  of  the  Confederation  were  bound  to  go  out, 
and  offer  to  the  country  the  sword  and  banner  of  Revolt,  whatever  conse 
quences  might  result  to  themselves  for  doing  so. 

"The  position  we  stood  in;  the  language  we  had  used;  the  promises  we 
had  made;  the  defiances  we  had  uttered;  our  entire  career,  short  as  it  was, 
seemed  to  require  from  us  a  step  no  less  daring  and  defiant  than  that  which, 
the  Government  had  taken. 

"Besides,  here  was  an  audacious  inroad  upon  the  liberty  of  the  subject! 
The  utter  abrogation  of  the  sacred  personal  inviolability,  guaranteed  by  sound 
old  law,  to  all  people  linked  by  rags  or  golden  cords  to  the  Brunswick 
Crown !  Was  it  not  the  choicest  ground  of  quarrel,  upon  which  a  people, 
provoked  and  wronged  like  the  Irish  people  had  been  for  years  and  years, 
could  fling  down  the  gauge  of  battle. 

"  Was  it  not  said,  too,  by  the  most  peaceable  of  our  Repealers,  that, 
the  moment  the  Constitution  was  invaded,  they  would  sound  the  trumpet, 
and  pitch  their  tents?  Was  it  not  said  over  and  over  again,  by  these  sen 
sitive,  scrupulous,  pious,  poor  men  —  by  these  meek,  forbearing,  mendicant 
Crusaders  —  that  they  would  stand  within  the  Constitution?  On  both  feet 
within  it?  But  that  the  very  instant  the  soldier  or  the  lawyer  crossed  it, 
they  would  unsheathe  the  sword  of  Gideon,  and  with  a  mighty  voice,  call 
upon  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  and  the  Angel  of  Sennacherib! 

"I  hold  that  the  leaders  of  the  Confederation  were  bound  to  give  these 
men  an  opportunity  to  redeem  their  pledges;  bound  to  give  the  people,  who 
honestly  and  earnestly  desired  to  change  their  condition,  an  opportunity  to 
attempt  euch  a  change,  if  it  so  happened  that  all  they  required  was  the 
opportunity  to  make  the  attempt;  bound,  at  all  events,  and  whatever  might 
be  the  result  to  themselves,  to  mark,  in  the  strongest  and  most  conclusive 
manner,  their  detestation  of  an  act  which  left  a  great  community  to  be 
dealt  with,  just  as  the  suspicions  of  a  Police  Magistrate,  a  Detective,  or  a 
Viceroy  might  suggest. 

"  And  what  is  the  befitting  answer  of  a  people  to  the  Parliaments,  the 
Cabinets,  or  Privy  Councils,  that  deem  it  'expedient'  to  brand  the  arms, 
and  gag  the  utterance  of  a  nation?  There  is  but  one  way  to  reply  to  them, 
and  that  is,  by  the  signal-fires  of.  insurrection. 

"  Then  again  had  we  not  gone  out  upon  the  Suspension  Act,  and  written 
our  protest  against  that  measure  upon  the  standard  of  Rebellion,  the  Eng 
lish  officials  would  have  been  led  to  believe  that  the  privileges  of  Irish  citi. 
rens  might  be  abused,  not  only  with  perfect  impunity,  but  without  one 


'250  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

manly  symptom  of  resentment.  We  preferred  risking  our  lives,  rather  than 
suffer  this  contemptuous  impression  to  go  abroad. 

"Thoughts  such  as  these  crossed  my  mind  —  as  hastily  and  irregularly 
as  I  have  now  written  them  —  whilst  we  were  waiting  for  the  coach.  In 
giving  them  to  you,  I  have  made  no  effort  to  mould  them  into  anything  like 
an  accurate  and  graceful  form.  Yet,  misshapen  as  they  are,  you  may,  per 
haps,  glean  from  them  the  motives  that  prompted  me  to  an  enterprise  which 
I  felt  convinced  would  fail,  and  learn  the  views  I  took,  at  the  last  moment, 
of  our  position  and  its  duties,  the  difficulties  by  which  it  was  surrounded, 
and  the  sacrifices  which  it  exacted. 

"At  nine  o'clock  the  coach  came  up;  and  having  wished  Charles  Hart, 
who  had  accompanied  us  from  Druid  Lodge,  an  affectionate  farewell,  Dillon 
and  I  took  our  places ;  the  guard  sung  out  k  All  right ! '  and  in  a  second  or 
two,  we  were  dashing  away,  in  gallant  style,  along  the  road  to  Bray. 

"  We  were  the  only  inside  passengers,  and  we  had  the  good  fortune  not 
to  be  interrupted  until  we  came  to  Enniscorthy. 

"  At  Rudd's  hotel  we  dismounted  and  ordered  a  car  for  Ballinkeele.  It 
was  little  more  than  five  o'clock,  and  the  morning  was  bitterly  cold.  A 
clear,  bright  sun.  however,  was  melting  the  thin  frost  which  had  fallen  in 
the  night,  and  changing  into  golden  vapor  tne  grey  mist  which  arched  the 
gentle  current  of  the  Slaney.  Not  a  soul  was  stirring  in  the  streets;  the 
hotel  itself  was  dismally  quiet;  the  fowls  in  the  stable-yard,  and  the  gruff 
old  dog,  beside  the  soft  warm  ashes  of  the  kitchen-fire,  were  all  at  rest. 

"  Whilst  the  car  was  getting  ready,  I  sat  down  before  the  fire,  and 
taking  out  the  last  number  of  the  Felon,  read  lor  Dillon,  the  beautiful, 
noble  appeal  —  written,  as  I  have  understood  since,  by  James  Finton  Lalor 
—  which  ended  with  this  question :  — 

"  Who  will  draw  the  first  blood  for  Ireland?  Who  will  win  a  wreath  that 
shall  be  green  forever?" 

"Passing  out  of  the  town,  the  first  object  which  struck  us  was  Vinegar 
Hill,  with  the  old  dismantled  wind-mil,  on  the  summit  of  it,  sparkling  in 
the  morning  light.  You  can  easily  imagine  the  topic  upon  which  our  con 
versation  turned,  as  we  passed  by  it. 

"Alas!  it  is  a  bitter  thought  with  me  whilst  I  write  these  lines— more 
bitter,  far,  a  thousand  times,  than  the  worst  privations  of  prison-life — that, 
unlike  those  gallant  Wexford  men  of  '98,.  we  have  left  behind  us  no  famous 
field,  within  the  length  and  breadth  of  our  old  country,  which  men  could 
point  to  with  proud  sensation,  and  fair  hands  strew  with  garlands. 

"  After  an  hour's  drive  we  arrived  at  Ballinkeele,  and,  having  asked  for 
Smith  O'Brien,  were  shown  by  the  servant  to  his  room. 


TAKING    THE  FIELD,"  251 


"We  found  him  in  bed.  He  did  not  seem  much  surprised  at  the  news 
we  told  him,  and  asked  us  what  we  proposed  to  do?  Dillon  replied,  there  were 
three  courses  open  to  us.  The  first  to  permit  ourselves  to  be  arrested.  The 
second,  to  escape.  The  third,  to  throw  ourselves  upon  the  country,  and 
give  the  signal  of  insurrection. 

"O'Brien's  answer  was  just  what  we  had  expected.  As  to  effecting  an 
escape,  he  was  decidedly  opposed  to  it;  whatever  might  occur,  he  would  not 
leave  the  country ;  and  as  to  permitting  ourselves  to  be  arrested,  without 
first  appealing  to  the  people,  and  testing  their  disposition,  he  was  of  opinion 
we  would  seriously  compromise  our  position  before  the  public,  were  we  to 
do  so.  The  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  was  an  event,  he  conceived, 
which  should  excite,  as  it  would  assuredly  justify,  every  Irishman  in  taking 
up  arms  against  the  government  —  at  all  events  he  felt  it  to  be  our  duty 
to  make  the  experiment. 

"  I  told  him  we  had  come  to  the  same  conclusion  previous  to  our  leav 
ing  Dublin,  and  were  prepared  to  take  the  field  with  him  that  day. 

li  He  then  got  up,  and  having  sent  for  Mr.  Maher,  informed  him  of 
the  news  we  had  brought.  It  was  arranged  we  should  breakfast  immedi 
ately,  and  leave  Ballinkeele  with  as  little  delay  as  possible. 

"At  ten  o'clock  we  were  seated  in  Mr.  Manor's  carriage,  and  on  our 
way  to  Enniscorthy.  Whilst  we  drove  along,  different  plans  of  operation 
were  discussed  of  which  the  one  I  now  state  to  you  was,  in  the  end,  con 
sidered  the  best. 

"  From  all  we  had  heard,  we  were  of  opinion  it  would  not  be  advisable 
to  make  our  first  stand  in  Wexford ;  very  few  Confederates  having  been 
enrolled  from  that  county,  and  our  political  connection  with  it,  consequently, 
being  extremely  slight.  Indeed,  there  was  scarcely  a  single  man  of  influ 
ence  in  the  county,  with  whom  we  could  put  ourselves  in  communication ; 
and,  without  taking  other  circumstances  of  an  unfavorable  nature  into  con 
sideration,  it  appeared  to  us,  that,  this  being  our  first  visit  amongst  them, 
it  was  too  much  to  expect  that  the  Wexford  men  would  rally  round 
us  with  the  enthusiasm  which  the  people,  in  other  parts  of  the  country, 
where  we  were  better  known,  would  be  sure  to  exhibit.  It  was  absolutely 
necessary  to  commence  the  insurrection  with  heart  and  vigor,  and,  at  a 
glance,  we  saw,  that,  in  Waterford,  in  Kilkenny,  in  Tipperary,  we  might 
calculate  upon  the  manifestation  of  the  warmest  and  boldest  spirit. 

"At  first  O'Brien  was  strongly  in  favor  of  going  to  New  Ross.  I  was 
opposed  to  this,  and  argued  against  it,  with  no  little  anxiety;  urging  upon 
him  the  serious  disadvantage  it  would  be  to  us  —  in  case  the  people  of  New 
Ross  responded  to  our  appeal  —  to  commence  the  fight  in  a  town  so  help- 


252  ME  MO  IE  8   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FEANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

lessly  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the  war-steamers  then  lying  in  the  Barrow,  and 
the  number  of  which,  in  little  more  than  two  hours,  would  certainly  be 
increased  by  a  contingent  from  the  larger  ones  which  were  anchored  in  the 
Suir,  abreast  of  Waterford. 

"The  like  objection  prevailed  against  our  selection  of  the  latter  place; 
and  we  finally  determined  upon  making  for  Kilkenny.  The  same  plan,  in 
fact,  which  Dillon  and  I  thought  of,  the  day  before,  was  agreed  to  by 
O'Brien. 

''It  seemed  to  him,  as  it  had  seemed  to  us,  that  Kilkenny  was  the 
very  best  place  in  which  the  insurrection  could  break  out.  Perfectly  safe 
from  all  war-steamers,  gun-boats,  floating- batteries,  standing  on  the  frontiers 
of  the  three  best  fighting  counties  in  Ireland,  Waterford,  Wexford  and  Tip- 
perary  —  the  peasantry  of  which  could  find  no  difficulty  in  pouring  in  to  iu 
relief;  possessing  f-om  three  to  five  thousand  Confederates,  vhe  greater  num 
ber  of  whom  we  understood  to  be  armed;  most  of  the  streets  being  extremely 
narrow,  and  presenting,  on  this  account,  the  greatest  facility  for  the  erec 
tion  of  barricades;  the  barracks  lying  outside  the  town,  and  the  line  of 
communication  between  the  principal  portions  of  the  latter  and  the  former, 
being  intercepted  by  the  old  bridge  over  the  Nore,  which  might  be  easily  de 
fended,  or,  at  the  worst,  very  speedily  demolished;  no  place,  it  appeared  to 
us,  could  be  better  adapted  for  the  first  scene  of  the  revolution,  than  this, 
the  ancient  '  City  of  the  Confederates.' 

vk  In  making  this  selection,  there  were  one  or  two  considerations,  of 
temporary  interest,  which  influenced  us  to  some  extent. 

•'  The  railway  from  Dublin  was  completed  to  Bagnalstown  only,  leaving 
fourteen  miles  of  the  ordinary  coach  road  still  open  between  the  latter  place 
and  Kilkenny.  The  thick  shrubberies  and  plantations;  the  high  bramble 
fences,  and  at  different  intervals,  the  strong  limestone  walls  which  flauk 
this  road;  the  sharp  twists  and  turns  at  certain  points  along  it;  the  alter 
nations  of  hill  and  hollow,  which  render  a  journey  by  it  so  broken  and 
diversified ;  its  uniform  narrowness,  and  the  steep  embankments,  which,  in 
one  or  two  places,  spring  up  where  its  width  measures  scarcely  sixteen  feet ; 
everything  was  in  favor  of  its  being  converted,  by  an  insurgent  population, 
with  almost  certain  security  and  ease,  to  the  most  successful  enterprises. 

"Along  this  road,  as  they  left  the  station-house  at  Bagnalstown,  and 
marched  upon  Kilkenny,  whole  regiments,  draughted  off  from  the  Dublin  and 
Newbridge  garrisons,  might  have  been  surprised  and  cut  to  pieces  had  the 
country  once  been  up. 

"Then  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  was  on  the  eve  of  holding  its 
annual  cattle  show  in  Kilkenny;  specimens  of  the  choicest  beef  and  mutton 


'•  FOLLOWING    THE  LEADER."  253 

had  already  arrived,  and,  in  full  clover,  were  awa'ting  the  inspection  of  the 
highest  nobles,  and  the  wealthiest  commoners  of  the  land.  Many,  too,  of 
these  proud  gentlemen  had  themselvss  arrived;  and  carriages  might  have 
been  met,  each  hour,  along  the  different  avenues  to  the  town,  freighted 
with  the  rank,  the  gaiety  and  fashion  of  the  surrounding  country.  In  case 
of  a  sustained  resistance,  here  was  a  creditable  supply  of  hostages  and  pro 
visions  for  the  insurgents ! 

"  With  some  hundred  head  of  the  primest  cattle  in  the  island,  we  could 
have  managed  admirably  behind  the  barricades  for  three  or  four  days;  whilst 
with  a  couple  of  Earls,  from  half  a  dozen  to  a  dozen  Baronets,  an  odd  Mar 
quis,  or.  il  the  only  Duke"  himself,  in  custody,  we  might  have  found  ourselves 
in  an  exellent  position  to  dictate  terms  to  the  Government. 


CHAPTER    XLV. 

"FOLLOWING  THE  LEADER." 

"FoKow  thee'    follow  ^heel    Wha  wadna'  follow  theaf 
Loug  hast  thou   lo'ed  an'  trusted  us  fairly  1" 

UNDER  th°  form  of  a  "  Personal  Narrative,"  I  deem  it  expedient  to  de 
vote  this  chapter  to  a  record  of  the  occurrences  which  transpired  under  my 
own  observation  in  Dublin  during  the  two  days  immediately  following  that 
on  which  Meagher  left  the  city,  as  well  as  to  some  interesting  incidents 
of  rny  experiences  —  while  in  the  country  —  engaged  in  the  exciting  play  of 
"  Follow  the  Leader,"  during  the  remaining  portion  of  that  eventful  week 
—  the  material  for  the  authentic  history  of  which  can  only  be  found  in  the 
collected  narratives  of  a  similar  character,  which  participators  in  the  scenes 
described  have  left  on  record. 

On  Sunday,  July  23d,  the  news  of  the  intended  suspension  of  the  Ha 
beas  Corpus  Act  became  generally  known  throughout  Dublin,  and  a  rumor 
became  current  among  prominent  Club-men  that  their  leaders  had  hastily 
left  the  city, 

The  intelligence  created  neither  alarm  nor  astonishment;  but  all  felt 
convinced  that  the  long-expected  "  crisis "  was,  at  last  upon  them,  and  qui 
etly,  and  resolutely,  awaited  the  "  order  "  —which,  they  felt  confident,  would, 
at  the  proper  moment,  reach  them  from  the  Executive  Committee. 


254  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

This  hopeful  sentiment  was  encouraged  and  strengthened  by  the  bold 
and  confident  tone  of  the  Nation  and  Felon  in  their  last  week's  issue.  These 
papers  —  having  gone  to  press  on  Friday  night  —  had,  of  course,  no  reference 
to  the  Government's  treacherous  coup  d'etat,  but,  without  that  incentive, 
they,  in  most  unmis'akable  language,  gave  the  people  to  understand  that 
the  time  for  preparation  had  gone  by,  and  the  time  for  action  was  as  hand. 

(It  was  the  last  opportunity  afforded  those  gallant  exponents  of  popular 
sentiment.  —  But  they  fell  at  their  post  —  and  with  the  "Green  flag  flying.'') 

On  Mondav,  the  public  feeling  became  somewhat  feverish,  and  the  long 
ing  for  some  definite  intelligence  from  the  absent  leaders  grew  more 
intense  among  the  Club-men.  In  the  early  forenoon  I  was  on  my  way  ta 
the  Council-Rooms,  in  search  of  information  from  the  Secretary,  Mr.  Thomas 
Matthew  Halpin,  when  I  was  suddenly  accosted,  on  the  street,  by  my  friend 
John  Williams,  who  grasped  my  hand,  and  whispered,  excitedly: — "I'm 
glad  I've  met  you!  —  The  hour  has  come  at  last  —  the  -game's  a-foott"1  —  they're 
•  up  '  in  TIPPERARY  !  " 

"Thanks  be  to  God!"  was  my  fervent  response — "I'll  be  up  with  them 
to-morrow!  But,"  I  added  —  "what  orders  have  come  to  the  clubs?" 

He  replied  that  he   "had  not,   as  yet  heard  of    any!" 

I  thought  that  strange,  under  the  critical  circumstances,  and  so  expressed 
myself.  But  Mr.  Williams  explained  that  the  dispatch  just  received  was 
necessarily  brief,  and  hurried  —  that  he  '  had  no  doubt  but  some  definite 
instructions  for  the  guidance  of  the  clubs  would  be  communicated  to  their 
officers  in  the  course  of  the  day." 

As,  filled  with  the  joyous  —  all-absorbing  idea  of  going  to  fight  near 
home  —  the  future  (possible)  action  of  my  Dublin  associates  had  become  a 
secondary  consideration  with  me,  I  entered  no  further  on  the  subject  with 
him. 

After  our  parting,  I  gave  up  the  intention  of  proceeding  to  the  Council- 
Rooms  at  that  time  —  but  hastened  back  to  my  lodgings,  to  announce  the 
thrilling  news  to  my  comrades  —  and  prepare  them  for  the  journey  south 
on  the  morrow. 

As  we  were  to  enter  on  the  campaign  in  "  light  marching  order,"  it 
didn't  take  long  to  make  the  requisite  preparations.  But,  before  attending 
to  them,  we  purposed  devoting  the  rest  of  the  day  to  bidding  "good-bye" 
to  as  many  as  possible  of  the  dear  friends  we  had  made  during  our  four 
months'  sojourn  in  Dublin. 

The  first  of  these  whom  I  wished  to  see  was  Devin  Reilly.  But  it  was 
not  so  much  for  the  purpose  of  taking  leave  of  him,  as  to  consult  with, 
and  be  guided  by  him  as  to  my  future  course;  for,  besides  being  one  of 


'•  FOLLOWING    THE  LEADER."  255 

my  dearest  and  most  trusted  friends  in  the  Organization,  he  was  also  a 
member  of  the  Executive  Council,  and  the  only  one  of  that  body  still  re 
maining  in  Dublin.  It  was  possible,  therefore,  that,  as  one  of  their  most 
popular  leaders,  he  might  have  been  assigned  to  take  command  of  the  Clubs, 
in  case  an  immediate  "  rising "  in  the  metropolis  constituted  a  part  of  the 
revolutionary  programme ;  — in  which  event,  I  would  forego  my  intention  of 
leaving  the  city,  and  take  my  stand  by  his  side. 

Mo^t  fortunately,  while  on  my  way  to  Mr.  Reilly's  residence,  in  Eath- 
mines  —  I  met  him,  accidentally,  in  the  city.  I  told  him  what  I  had  heard 
from  Mr.  Williams,  and  asked  him  "what  course  he  intended  to  take?'1 

He  replied  that  "he,  also,  had  heard  the  late  important  news,  but 
that,  prior  to  its  receipt,  he  was  about  leaving  the  city  to  join  the  others 
in  Tipperary,"  and  that  he  "  would  depart  on  that  evening.''*  He  also  said 
that  he  had  intended  seeing  me  before  he  left,  to  make  arrangements  for 
my  joining  them  there.  He  then  asked  me  ''  if  I  had  ever  been  in  Cashel, 
and  knew  where  Doheny  lived  there? 

On  my  answering  both  questions  affirmatively,  he  instructed  me  to  meet 
him  at  Doheny's  house,  with  my  two  comrade*,  on  the  next  evening  —  as 
he  would,  most  probably,  meet  Smith  O'Brien  and  his  companions  there, 
about  that  time.  I  assured  him  that  we'd  be  there. 

In  the  evening  I  called  at  the  Council-Rooms  to  ascertain  if  any  instruc 
tions  for  the  clubs  had  been  left  there  by  the  Executive  Council.  I  also 
hoped  to  meet  some  friends  there  (in  quest  of  similar  information,) — to  whom 
I  wished  to  bid  "good-bye."  I  did  meet  several  of  these  —  including  two 
prominent  officers  of  the  Swift  Club  —  Edward  Keating  and  Michael  Moran. 

[EDWARD  KEATING  was  one  of  the  most  active  and  intelligent  of  the 
working  Confederates  in  Dublin,  he  was  also  one  of  the  men  who  continued 
to  work  in  the  revolutionary  cause  in  Ireland,  while  a  hope  remained  —  and 
long  after  the  leaders  of  the  '48  movement  had  been  exiled  over  the  earth. 
In  1850,  he,  too,  was  destined  to  leave  Ireland  —  for  America.  On  his  arri 
val  in  New  York  he  speedily  became  associated  with  the  men  of  his  race 
who  still  hoped  —  and  were  preparing  —  to  strike  a  blow  for  the  old  laud; 


*  When  Dillon's  confidential  messenger  reached  me  In  Newgate,  announcing  the  pur 
pose  and  plan  with  whhh  he  and  Meagher  had  joined  O'Brien,  I  told  John  Martin,  and 
we  eent  Immediately  for  a  few  of  our  friends,  among  others  T.  B.  McWanus,  Maurice 
Leyne,  and  Devin  Kellly.  We  advised  them  to  follow  Dillon  immediately.  The  same  com 
munication  was  made  confidentially  to  a  few  Clubmen;  for  if  a  stand  were  made  it  was 
of  the  last  importance  that  reliable  men  should  be  at  hanrt  to  serve  and  second  the 
leaders.—  CHARLES  GAVAU  DUFFY,  in  "Four  Years  of  Irish  History."  Page  664. 


356  MEMOIES  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAOHER. 

he  was  elected  to  a  lieutenancy  in  the  old  9th  —  the  first  Irish  Regiment 
raised  in  New  York.  By  profession  a  silver-smith  and  engraver,  and  a  skillful 
artist,  his  services  were  always  in  demand.  He  moved  South  some  time 
previous  to  the  war;  and  eventually  his  name  became  one  of  the  most  widely 
known  throughout  the  Confederacy  —  it  being  found  on  most  of  the  Confed 
erate  notes  engraved  in  Columbia,  S.  C.  After  the  war,  he  returned  to  New 
York. 

MICHAEL  MORAN  was  a  most  earnest  and  enthusiastic  Republican,  and  a 
devoted  disciple  of  John  Mitchel.  He  was  a  natural-born  orator,  and,  in 
the  Swift  Club,  he  passionately  advocated  the  rescue  of  his  favorite  leader 
in  opposition  to  Meagher's  argument  against  the  adoption  of  such  a  course. 
His  was  a  sad  fate.  On  the  night  following  that  on  which  I  parted  him 
self  and  his  brother  Joseph,  at  the  Council-Rooms,  both  were  arrested  by  a 
police  force  on  the  street.  Michael  resisted  desperately,  and  in  the  fight 
which  ensued,  he  disabled  one  of  the  police  by  a  blow  from  a  dagger.  He 
was  finally  overpowered,  and  with  some  of  his  companions  lodged  in  New 
gate.  Tried  lor  the  offence,  he  was  sentenced  to  transportation  for  life  — 
but  he  died  in  prison.] 

In  the  presence  of  these  Club-men  I  inquired  of  the  Secretary,  Mr. 
Halpin,  "if,  before  their  departure  from  the  city,  the  members  of  the  Exe 
cutive  Council  had  left  any  instructions  for  the  guidance  of  the  Clubs?" 

He  replied  that  "they  had  not — to  his  knowledge,"  and  he  reiterated  the 
statement,  emphatically,  when  I  expressed  surprise  that  the  chosen  officers 
of  the  Organization  should,  "  in  such  an  emergency,  have  left  the  city  with 
out  a  word  of  advice  to  the  thousands  of  armed  men  who  looked  to  them 
for  guidance/' 

In  the  absence  of  any  positive  information  to  the  contrary  none  of  us 
could  see  cause  for  doubting  Mr.  Halpin's  statement  —  however  disappointed 
we  all  felt  at  what  we  considered  a  singular  oversight  on  the  part  of  our 
most  trusted  leaders. 

[The  Secretary  of  the  Confederation  at  this  time  was  Mr.  Halpin,  an 
intelligent  and  honest  young  man,  but  without  vigor  of  will  or  decision  of 
character,  and  he  performed  very  inadequately  the  duty  of  communicating 
with  the  Clubs.  The  detectives  considered  his  father-in-law  and  his  wife 
persons  with  whom  they  might  successfully  tamper  to  ascertain  where  the 
books  and  papers  of  the  Confederation  were  concealed.  They  did  not  suc 
ceed  in  corrupting  them,  but  Mr.  Halpin  seems  to  have  been  disturbed  and 
paralyzed  by  the  attempt.  The  want  of  precise  information  threw  the  clubs 


"FOLLOWING    THE  LEADER."  257 

into  complete  confusion,  and  he  set  out  in  a  day  or  two  for  Tipperary,  leaving 
them  without  any  efficient  channel  of  information.  —Charles  Gavan  Duffy's 
"  Fvur  l\-ars  of  Irish  History."1  Page  653. 

In    an    unpublished    MSS.    of    John    O'Mahony's.    now   in  my   possession  — 

entitled:  "PERSONAL  NARRATIVE    OF  MY  CONNECTION  WITH  THE  ATTEMPTED 

RISING  OF  1848,"  I  find  the  following  reference  to  Mr.  Halpin  and  the 
Dublin  Club-men :  — 

"  Shortly  after  Meagher,  Mr.  Leyne  and  Halpin,  (Secretary  of  the  Con 
federation,)  came.  Halpin  wanted  instructions  for  the  Dublin  Club-men,  who 
were  completely  at  fault  on  account  of  the  sudden  disappearance  of  the 
leaders  —  who  had  left  town  without  leaving  a  word  of  instructions  for 
their  guidance,  or  any  means  of  communicating  with  their  missing  chiefs. 
Poor  Club-men  of  Dublin !  not  a  townland  in  Tipperary  but  was  visited  by 
some  of  them,  in  the  vain  search  for  an  insurgent  camp." 

"  Meaghtr  sent  Halpiu  off',  telling  him  something  about  breaking  up  a 
railroad.''] 

Moreover,  the  statement  seemed  to  receive  corroboration  from  the  fact 
that,  when  it  was  made,  there  was  not  a  single  leading  Confederate  left 
(at  large)  in  Dublin  —  for  Devin  Eeilly  had  —  in  accordance  with  ihe  advice 
of  his  friends  in  Newgate,  left  for  Tipperary  that  afternoon,  and  P.  ,T. 
Smyth  had  taken  the  same  direction  on  the  day  before,  in  consequence  of 
his  having  received  information  that  his  immediate  arrest  was  contemplated.* 

Thus  it  was,  that  all  that  finely  organized  and  armed  intelligence  of 
the  capital,  which  had  cost  so  much  time  and  labor  to  bring  to  periection, 
was  permitted  to  lie  idle;  for.  under  the  circumstances,  the  Club-men  were 
driven  to  the  conclusion  that  —  for  the  present  at  all  events  —  they  were 
doomed  to  remain  passive  spectators  of  the  drama,  to  take  a  leading  part 
in  which  they  had  for  mouths  past,  so  hopefully  striven  to  prepare  themselves. 
They  could  not  comprehend  why  their  leaders  —  instead  of  calling  on  them 
to  strike  the  long-wished  for  u  first  blow "  —  should  prefer,  suddenly  and 
unannounced,  to  throw  themselves  on  the  unorganized  peasantry  —  in  a  dis- 
triet  where  "  arms-acts "  hud  been  unintei  niittently  in  force,  and  where, 


*  Smyth,  who  had  been  left  In  charge  of  Dublin,  but  without  specific  instructions, 
and  ordered  to  act  according  to  circumstances,  lound  that  his  immediate  arrest  was  con 
templated,  and  he  resolved  to  inafee  his  way  to  Tipperary  while  it  was  still  possible,  on 
Sunday  morning  he  and  James  Cantwell  left  for  Thurles.  —  CUAKLES  G.  DUFFY'S  "Four 
Years  ol  Irish  Ulstory.  Page  055. 
17 


25$  MEMOIRS    OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FHANCIS  JUEAGHER. 

even  the  possession  of  a  percussion  cap,  or  a  pitch-fork  with  prongs  of 
unusual  length,  was  punished  with  twelve  months'  imprisonment.  Under 
the  influence  of  these  bitter  reflections  —  no  wonder  that  these  men,  hitherto 
so  brave  and  patiently  hopeful,  should  become  disheartened  and  bewildered, 
and  feel,  verily,  as  if  they  were  left  — 

"Sheep    without  a   shepherd  — when  the  snow  shuts  out  the  sky." 

Directly,  or  by  implication,  these  Dublin  Club-men  have  been  charged  — 
by  open  i'oes,  or  misinformed  friends  of  the  Irish  cause  —  with  having  —  as 
a  body  —  acted  an  unworthy  and  pusillanimous  part  in  this  crisis  of  their 
country's  cause;  and  it  was  not  until  the  publication  of  Charles  Gavau 
Dufty's  able  history  of  the  period,  that  anything  like  an  adequate  vindication 
of  their  conduct  had  been  attempted.  From  personal  observation,  and  the  clos 
est  political  association  at  the  time,  with  that  noble  band  of  brothers,  I  feel  it 
a  prideful  duty  —  while  dealing  with  the  events  of  the  period— to  add  my 
humble  testimony  to  that  of  the  illustrious  writer  and  statesman,  in  doing 
justice  to  the  exalted  patriotism,  courage,  and  seif-;;aei  ificiug  devotion  of  as 
fine  a  body  of  Irishmen  —  endowed  with  the  best  attributes  of  their  race  — 
as  ever  I  met— or  desire  to  meet. 

After  taking  leave  of  such  of  our  friends  as  we  had  time  to  communi 
cate  with,  myself  and  comrades  devoted  the  brief  remainder  of  the  night  to 
placing  our  arms  in  a  safe  hiding-place  until  they  should  be  required  for 
use  in  the  city.  We  ripped  up  a  portion  of  the  floor  of  our  bed-room,  and 
there  stowed  a  well-oiled  musket,  two  full-mounted  pikes  —  and  the  handle 
of  a  third  —  the  blade — being  the  one  given  to  me  by  John  Mitchel  —  I  de 
termined  to  take  with  me  to  Munster  —  where  I  could  easily  remount  it,  at 
short  notice, —01.  so  I  then  felt  satisfied  I  could,  but,  in  this  connection, 
rny  subsequent  experience  exemplified  the  Scottish  bard's  sage  apothegm:  — 

"The  bei-t  laid   schemes  o'  mice  and  men, 
Gang  alt  a-gley  " 

However,  having  wrapped  up  the  cherished  memento  of  our  banished 
"Felon"  carelully  in  a  handkerchief,  and  placed  a  cork  oil  the  point,  I 
found  1  could  carry  it  without  inconvenience,  inside  my  vest  —  either  walk 
ing  or  sitting  in  a  railway  carriage,  and  without  running  any  risk  of  its 
presonce  being  noticed  by  a  casual  observer. 

On  Tuesday  morning,  while  on  our  way  to  the  railway  station,  we  again 
met  Mr.  Williams.  He  told  me  that  orders  had  just  been  received  to  tear 
up  the  railway  at  Salius,  and  asked,  "if  I  would  not  like  to  take  a  hand 
in  the  work?  1  told  him  I  preferred  going  direct  10  where  I  could  find 
more  congenial  employment,  and  would  get  there  as  qubkly  as  possible  — 


••  FOLLOWING    THE  LEADER."  259 

while   the   way  was   yet   open   to   me.      He   coincided   with   me,  and    we   parted 

—  he,    to    drum    up    volunteers    to    obstruct    the    railway;   and    we,    to    get    at 
the   safe   side   of   the    "gap."     In   another  hour   we   were   speeding  on  our  way 
tu   our    "Laud   of   Promise!'' 

On  our  approaching  Salins  station,  we  curiously  scanned  the  scene  —  of 
what  we  iaucied  would  soon  constitute  an  exciting  episode  of  our  country's 
history :  but.  in  the  brief  glance  we  were  enabled  to  take,  we  could  only 
notice  that  there  seemed  to  be  no  deep  cutting  on  that  portion  of  the  line 

—  the    country   in    the    vicinity    being    quite    level;    however,    during    the    mo 
mentary    stoppage   at   the   station,  we   saw   that   the  railway  crossed  the  Grand 
Canal   near-by ;   and   that   ,    from    thence   to   Dublin,    the   two   ran   parallel   and 
in    close   proximity   to  each   other,  hence   we   surmised   that  the  u  bridge"  over 
i   e   canal   was   to   be   the   spot   selected  for  destruction. 

But  we  were  debarred  from  exchanging  opinions  on  the  subject,  by  the 
fact,  that  we  had,  for  a  fellow-passenger  in  the  same  compartment,  —  a  man, 
who,  soon  after  the  train  started,  informed  us  that  he  was  a  "'  police-recruit 

—  stationed   for   the   past   six   months   at   the   Depot   in  Phoenix   Park,  and   now 
ou   furlough   going   to   visit  his  friends,    iu   his    native   place,    Fermoy." 

This  timely  (volunteered)  iuformatiou  warned  us  to  avoid  all  reference 
to  our  own  birth-place — (Cappoquiu  being  only  lifteeu  miles  from  Fermov  — 
and  k- Peelers" —  however  '•  green" —  being  naturally  i%  suspicious  customers.") 
But.  as  we  found  we  were  destined  to  have  the  company  of  ^our  confid 
ing  neighbor  as  tar  as  (Jashel,  we  saw  no  harm  in  stating  that  that  town 
was  our  destination;  and,  as  he  then  remarked  that,  "he  had  never  been 
iu  the  place  but  once — when  passing  through  it  ou  his  way  to  Dublin''  — 
we  felt  thar  he  was  not  likely  to  ask  any  awkward  questions  regarding  the 
town  or  our  connection  therewith.  And  neither  did  he;  yet,  for  all  that, 
his  presence  amongst  us.  had.  —  unconsciously  to  him,  —  and  fortuitously  to 
us  —  a  marked  iullueuce  in  shaping  our  adventures  during  the  remainder  of 
i.hat  eventful  week: 

"Men  are  the  pport  of  circumstances— when 
The   clicuiiibtances  aeeui   the   sport  of  mej." 

This   is   what   occurred   to   place   us   on   the   list  of  fated   mortals. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  train  at  Thurles,  the  travellers  to  Cashel  found 
conveyance  thereto  ou  a  four-horse  '-Biancoui  car."'  Our  party,  (including 
the  incipient  Peeler.)  were  about  paying  their  fares,  when  I  bethought  me 
to  find  out  if  the  peculiarly-constructed  seats  of  the  vehicle  would  interfere 
•with  my  mode  of  carrying  the  '•'pike."  It  was  IUCKV  I  did  so  —  for,  on  trial, 
I  found  it  impossible  to  conceal  the  weapon  and  sit  Lu  a  comfortable  posi 
tion.  So  1  whispered  my  predicament  to  Dan.,  telling  him  I  would  walk  to 


260  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

Cashel,  and  meet  him  early  next  morning  on  the  road  near  Doheny's  house. 
I  then,  —  in  the  hearing  of  the  cause  of  my  change  of  plans  —  announced 
that  I  had  some  relatives  in  Thurles  on  whom  I  wished  to  call,  but  that 
I  would  meet  my  companions  at  u  Ryan's  Hotel,"  in  Cashel,  in  time  for 
breakfast,  next  morning. 

Waiting  till  the  car  started,  1, —  with  no  very  charitable  wishes  for  one 
of  its  passengers  —  set  out  on  my  ,t \velve  miles  tramp.  It  was  then  nearly 
dusk  in  the  eving,  but  the  road  was  dry  and  good;  and,  as  I  had  travelled 
over  it  before  I  knew  the  way.  I  had  completed  about  two-thirds  of  the  jour 
ney,  when  I  heard,  to  my  right,  the  sound  of  a  railway  train  proceeding  from 
Thurles  to  Dundrum  station.  I  knew  it  was  the  afternoon  tram  from  Dublin, 
and  felt  convinced  that  it  could  have  encountered  no  obstruction  at  Sallius  —  as 
I  was  led  to  expect  it  would.  Howtver,  I  was  not  mueh  disconcerted,  by 
the  knowledge  of  this  failure  —  although  I  felt  somewhat  disappointed  at 
its  occurreace. 

In  another  half  hour  or  so,  I  was  overtaken  by  a  party  of  men,  com 
ing  briskly  towards  the  town.  They  moderated  their  pace  as  they  bade  me 
"good  night!"  arid,  on  my  returning  their  salutation,  they  inquired  where 
I  had  come  from?  When  I  told  them  "from  Dublin,"  they  asked  when  I 
left  it,  and  how  matters  were  progressing  there?  —  one  of  them  adding  - 
"but  sure  yourself  isn't  a  Dublin-boy;  —  you  don't  speak  like  'em!"  I  as 
sured  him'  he  was  right  in  his  conjecture,  and  told  him  where  1  belonged 
to.  That  satisfied  them,  and  before  asking  for  further  information  they 
informed  me  that  they  were  members  of  the  '-Cormac  MacCuliuan  Club"  of 
Cashel;  tnat  they  were  after  cuiting  down  a  lot  of  ash  trees  for  pike- 
handle*  in  a  plantation  some  miles  back  —  for  that  they  expected  to  be  called 
upon  at  any  hour  now.  I,  in  turn,  told  them  all  I  knew  of  the  state  of 
affairs  in  Dublin,  and  that  I  had  business  at  Counsellor  Doheny's.  On  our 
arrival  in  the  town,  two  of  them  accompanied  me  to  the  house  —  saying 
they  were  personally  well  known  to  the  Counsellor  and  Mrs.  D-jheny ;  that 
the  former  was  not  then  at  home,  but  was  hourly  expected,  and  that  they 
would  introduce  me  to  the  lady.  This  they  accordingly  did,  and  then  cour 
teously  bade  us  "good-night!" 

I  explained  my  reasons  for  calling  at  her  house  to  Mrs.  Doheny,  arid 
informed  her  of  the  state  of  affaii  s  in  Dublin  when  I  left  it  that  forenoon 
—  and  of  my  surmise  regarding  the  failure  to  obstruct  the  railway  at  Sallins. 
She,  in  turn,  informed  me  that  Mr.  Reilly  had  not  yet  arrived  —  that  it  was 
possible  he  had  gone  first  to  Kilkenny,  in  hopes  of  joining  Smith  O'Brien 
there  —  that  she  believed  her  husband  was,  at  that  time,  with  the  latter  gen 
tleman —  and  that  she  was  expecting  both  of  them  to  arrive  in  Cashel  ai 


"FOLLOWING    THE  LEADER."  261 

any  moment.  She  added  that,  from  information  she  received,  she  believed 
the  "  authorities ''  were  expecting  them  too  —  but  whether  they  would  attempt 
to  arrest  them  under  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  remained 
to  be  seen  —  and  probably  depended  on  whether  the  gentlemen  came  alone 
or  accompanied  by  an  armed  escort  —  that  either  event  was  possible. 

1  then  said  that  —  I  was  confident  Devin  Reilly  would  soon  arrive  in 
Cashel —  and  possibly  in  company  of  Mr.  Doheuy  and  Mr.  O'Brien;  that, 
from  what  she  told  me,  it  was  essential  that  they  should  get  timely  warn 
ing —  should  they  arrive  unaccompanied  during  the  course  of  the  night  —  so  as 
to  avoid  ihe  chance  of  being  ambushed  by  the  authorities  under  cover  of  dark 
ness;  that  as  they  were  most  likely  to  come  by  the  Kilkenny  road,  (which 
passed  by  her  house,)  I  would  take  post  in  the  field  opposite,  and  watch 
through  the  night  for  their  arrival. 

Mrs.  Doheny  approved  of  the  plan;  and,  leaving  the  "pike"  in  her 
charge  for  the  night,  I  proceeded  to  my  post  of  observation. 

The  position  was  well  situated  for  my  purpose,  for  the  field  —  (which 
was  that  contiguous  to  ''Mary's  Abbey,") — sloped  gently  up  from  the 
road  —  a  view  of  which  it  commanded  for  a  considerable  distance,  in  the 
direction  of  Kilkenny.  It  had,  also,  another  advantage,  —  it  wras  a  newly-mown 
meadow  —  thickly  studded  with  hay-cocks.  Selecting  ihe  most  available  of 
these  —  one  which  immediatelv  fronted  the  entrance  to  Doheny's  house,  and 
the  venerable  "  Hock  ''  —  crowned  with  its  grand  tiara  —  commemorative  of 
Erin's  ancient  glory  —  looming  sublimely  against  the  star-lit  northern  sky  — 
I  seated  myself  beside  it  in  such  a  position  as  to  be  unobserved  from  any 
direction,  while  1  had  an  unobstructed  view  to  my  front  and  right.  There, 
alone  with  the  stars — and  my  own  thoughts  —  1  passed  my  first  night  in  the 
open  air. 

My  medi  ations  during  this  lonely  vigil  must  remain  unrecorded  for  the 
present.  They  took  a  wide  range.  They  pierced  the  Past,  into  the  pre-his- 
toric  ages  —  as  1  gazed  abstractedly  on  that  majestic  pile  —  which  was  a 
'sacred  spot"  in  the  eyes  of  my  Pagan  forefathers,  for  more  than  a  thou 
sand  years  before  ''Holy  Patrick"  invested  it  with  a  new  halo  of  sanctity 
—  when  he  baptised  Muuster's  first  Christian  King  —  and  blessed  the  "Spread 
ing  Tree  of  Gold "  —  and  its  fruitful  branches  —  through  succeeding  ages. 

Surely,  these  were  subjects  which,  under  the  circumstances,  might  well 
occupy  the  thoughts  of  a  young  Irish  enthusiast —imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
their  past  associa  ions  —  during  the  fleeting  hours  of  a  short  summer's  night. 

Yet  the  ac  ual  Present,  and  the  vigilance  it  exacted  —  claimed  its  due 
share  of  attention,  and  kept  me  "wide-awake"  —  mentally  and  physically, 
until  the  "  Moruing-titar "  —  rising  like  a  beacon-light  above  the  crest  of 


262  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

Sliave-na-mon  —  heralded  the  dawn.  Then,  stretching  my  stiffened  limbs,  and 
rubbing  my  winking  ejre-lids  —  wearied  from  two  night's  sleeplessness  —  I 
wended  my  way  to  the  road-side  for  the  purpose  ol  making  my  morning 
ablutions  at  a  "well"  which  I  knew  10  be  in  the  vicinity  of  the  ruined 
Abbey. 

While  engaged  in  this  refreshing  occupation,  I  heard  the  sound  of  wheels 
approaching  from  the  direction  of  Kilkenny,  and,  in  another  minute,  a  side 
car  was  a-breast  of  me  on  which  I  recognized  my  expected  i  ie  id.  Devin 
Reilly,  and  with  him  two  other  gentlemen,  Thomas  Matthew  Hatpin,  and 
Maurice  Richard  Leyne.  With  the  Secretary  of  the  Confederation  I  had 
been  on  terms  of  intimacy  for  months  previously,  but  Mr.  Leyae,  —  being 
a  recent  recruit  to  the  National  ranks,  —  I  only  knew  by  sight  and  reputa 
tion  until  I  was  introduced  to  him  that  morning  by  Mr.  Reilly. 

After  our  first  warm  greeting,  Reilly  inquired  how  I  came  to  be  there 
alone,  and  at  such  an  hour?  I  briefly  explained  matters.  Halpin,  who 
seemed  very  nervous,  explained  the  cause  of  his  anxiety  to  me  —  by  staling 
that  he  had  in  his  possession  a  letter  for  Smith  O'Brien,  just  arrived  from 
America,  which,  if  found  on  his  person  by  the  authorities,  might  lead  to 
serious  consequences,  and  which  he  was.  therefore,  most  desirous  to  deliver 
to  Mr.  O'Brien,  so  that  it  might  be  read  and  then  destroyed,  as  he  had 
little  doubt  but  ihat  its  contents  were  of  a  compromising  nature. 

I  tried  to  calm  his  excitement  by  the  assurance  that  "  if  an  attempt  was 
made  to  arrest  him  in  Cashel,  with  that  letter  in  his  possession,  it  would 
be  promptly  resisted,  and  that,  then,  he  should  '  fight  like  the  devil '  if  he 
wished  to  escape  hanging." 

He  t.idn'c  seem  to  be  much  relieved  by  my  consolatory  efforts,  however, 
for  he  again  reiterated  that  he  "wished  he  was  rid  of  the  letter — and  the 
responsibility  its  possession  entailed  on  him !" 

1  could  not  thoroughly  sympathize  with  his  feelings  then  —  when  the 
events  of  an  hour  might  commit  us  all  to  a  conflict  from  which  there  was 
no  retreating;  but  i.evertheless,  I  respected  his  high  moral  courage  and 
that  devotion  to  duty  which  impelled  him  to  encounter,  unflinchingly,  pros 
pective  dangers  clearly  visible  to  him,  though  unseen  or  unheeded  by  me. 

Mr.  Reilly  asked  me  to  show  them  the  way  to  Doheuy's  house,  and  I 
accompanied  them  there,  and,  having  introduced  Mr.  Reilly  to  Mrs.  Doheny, 
I  left  to  seek  my  companions  —  promising  to  return  in  an  hour  for  instruc 
tions  relative  to  our  future  movements. 

While  on  rny  way  to  Ryan's  Hotel,  I  met  my  two  companions,  and. 
after  breakfasting,  I  returned  with  them  to  the  vicinity  of  Doheuy's  house; 
I  posted  them  as  sentinels  on  the  "Rock"  while  I  entered  the  dwelling  to 


-FOLLOWING    THE  LEADERS  263 

consult    Devin    Keilly  — and     get     my    u  pike "    from     its    noble-hearted    care 
taker. 

.Mr.  Eeilly  told  me  that  if,  in  a  few  hours,  he  did  not  meet  O'Brien 
in  Cashel,  he  would  set  out  for  Carrick  in  hopes  of  meeting  him  and 
Meagher  in  that  town,  or  in  its  vicinity.  He  instructed  me  to  proceed  di 
rectly  to  Cappoquiu— (not  entering  the  town  till  after  nightfall,) —to  com 
municate  with  a  trusty  Confederate  there — (Hugh  W.  Collender  —  with  whom 
he  knew  I  had  kept  up  a  correspondence  during  my  sojourn  in  Dublin;)  — 
instruct  him  to  prepare  our  townsmen  for  a  prompt  ri-ing  —  as  soon  as 
they  got  orders  to  that  effect  through  either  myself  or  any  of:  my  two  com 
rades —  and,  having  done  so  —  proceed  by  the  shortest  route  to  Can-irk  —  where 
we  were  to  meet  him  on  the  next  evening,  and  receive  final  instructions 
according  to  the  plans  adopted  by  the  leaders. 

1  promised  to  carry  out  his  instructions  and  we  parted:  —  (to  meet  not 
on  the  next  day  —  or  in  Carrick  —  but,  eighteen  months  afterwards  —  in  New 
York.) 

A\V  reached  the  vicinity  of  Cappoquin  early  in  the  evening,  and,  wait 
ing  till  night-fall,  I  sent  in  Bob.  Ward  for  Hugh  Collender,  and  after  repeat 
ing  Deviu  lieilly's  instructions  to  him,  the  three  of  us  resumed  our  journey 
towards  Carrick. 

However,  before  we  were  two  miles  on  our  way  I  was  so  overcome  by 
fatigue  and  want  of  sleep,  that  we  were  compelled  to  pass  the  night  in  a 
grove  by  the  road-side  —  sleeping  on  the  bare  ground.  It  took  us  all  the 
next  day  to  traverse  the  range  of  the  Cummeraghs,  and  it  was  quite  dark 
when  we  arrived  in  the  vicinity  of  Carrick. 

CAKRICK-OX-SUIR. 

On  our  way  down  the  road  to  Carrick-Beg,  we  met  an  intelligent  coun 
tryman  of  whom  we  learned  that  Smith  O'Brien,  Meagher,  and  other  lead 
ing  Confederates  had  been  in  Carrick-on-Suir  on  the  previous  Tuesday,  (July 
25th;)  that  the  day  had  been  the  most  exciting  ever  seen  in  that  town  — 
the  club-men  of  both  town  and  country  —  with  women,  young  girls,  and 
boys  —  filling  the  streets,  cheering  and  shouting  that  the  '-Day  had  come  at 
last!''  and  calling  on  the  leaders  that  "Now  was  the  time  to  begin  if  they 
wan-ed  to  fight  while  they  had  the  PEOPLE  ready  and  willing  to  follow 
them,  in  spite  of  open  foes  or  half-hearted  friends ! " 

Why  the  leaders  did  not  taue  the  people  at  their  word,  our  informant 
did  not  understand;  he  only  knew  that  they  left  Carrick  the  same  evening 
—  to  the  great  disappointment  of  the  people,  and  that,  from  all  ne  could 


264  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

since  learn,  no  cue  knew  what  their  future  plans  were,  or  where  themselves 
were  then  to  be  found. 

This  man's  statement  was  corroborated  by  old  friends  of  Bob.  Ward's, 
with  whom  we  lodged  that  night.  They  gave  us  many  graphic  details  of 
the  proceedings  in  the  streets,  and  at  a  stormy  in-door  meeting,  where 
O'Brien  and  his  Confederate  Leaders  met  the  local  Club  Officers,  and  other 
prominent  town's-folk,  to  discuss  the  course  to  be  adopted. 

However,  as  the  story  of  that  eventful  day  has  been  much  more  lucidly 
told  by  two  of  the  principal  actors  in  the  thrilling  scenes  —  Thomas  Francis 
Meagher  and  John  O'Mahony,  I  prefer  giving  their  account  of  what  occurred 
to  that  which  we  heard  from  the  less  prominent  participators  in  that  mem 
orable  exhibition  of  popular  ieeling. 

Looking  from  the  window  of  the  meeting-room,  Meagher  gazed  upon  a 
scene  which  remained  for  ever  photographed  on  his  memory,  and  of  which 
he  has  left,  in  the  following  vivid  picture,  an  indelible  tribute  to  the  fidel 
ity,  heroism,  and  passionate  devotion  to  Ireland  and  Liberty,  of  the  men 
and  women  of  that  typical  town  of  "Gallant  Tipperary!" 

SCENE    IX    CAERICK  — JULY    25,   1843. 
Br  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGIIER. 

"A  torrent  of  human  beings,  rushing  through  lanes  and  narrow  streets; 
surging  and  boiling  against  the  white  basements  that  hemmed  it  in;  wjiirl- 
ing  in  dizzy  circles,  and  tossing  up  its  dark  waves,  with  sounds  of  wrath, 
Vengeance,  and  defiance;  clenched  hands,  darting  high  above  the  black  and 
broken  surface,  and  waving  to  and  fro,  with  the  wildest  confusion,  in  the 
air ;  eyes,  red  with  rage  and  desperation,  starting  and  flashing  upwards  through 
the  billows  of  the  flood ;  long  tresses  of  hair  —  disordered,  drenched,  and 
tangled  —  streaming  in  the  roaring  wind  of  voices,  and,  as  in  a  shipwreck, 
rising  and  falling  with  the  foam;  wild,  half-stifit?d,  passionate,  frantic  prayers 
of  hope;  invocations  in  sobs,  and  thrilling  wailings,  and  piercing  cries,  to  the 
God  of  heaven,  His  Saint?,  and  the  Virgin  Mary;  challenges  to  the  foe; 
curses  '  on  the  Red  Hag;'  scornful,  exulting  delirious  defiance  of  Death;  all 
wild  as  the  winter  gusts  at  sea.  yet  as  black  and  fearful  too;  this  is  what 
I  then  beheld  —  these  tlie  sounds  I  heard — such  the  dream  which  passed 
before  me ! 

"  It   was   the  REVOLUTION,    if  we   had   accepted  it. 

"  Why  it  was  not  accepted,  I  fear,  I  cannot  with  sufficient  accuracy 
explain." 


JOHN  O'MAHONY'S  PERSONAL   NABBATIVE. 


The  annexed  account  of  the  political  situation  in  Carrick  and  its  vicinity, 
at  that  time,  will,  to  some  extent,  enable  the  reader  to  comprehend  the 
question  which  Mr.  Meagher  did  not  undertake  to  solve.  It  is  extracted 
from  a  MSS.  of  Johu  O'Mahony's,  bequeathei  by  him  to  me,  and  never 
before  published.  The  MSS.  is  entitled  "Personal  Narrative  of  My  Connec 
tion  With  the  Attempted  Rising  of  1848."  It  is,  by  far,  the  most  accurate 
and  minutely  detailed  account  of  the  events  which  transpired  in  the  Valley 
of  the  Suir,  during  the  last  week  of  July,  1848,  which  has  hitherto  been 
given  to  the  public. 


CHAPTER   XLVI. 

EXTRACT  FROM  JOHN   O'MAHONY'S  PERSONAL    NARRATIVE. 

What  fate  Is    thine,  unhappy  Isle, 

That  even  the  trusted   few 
Should  pay  thee  back  with  hate  and  guile, 

When  most  they  should  be  true; 
*T  was  not  thy  strength  or  spirit  failed, 

And  ttiose  who  bled  for  thee, 
And  loved  thee    truly,  have  not  quailed, 

ACUSHLA  GAL  MACHREE. 

MICHAEL  DOHENY. 

"  DURING  the  early  months  of  '48,  I  did  not  take  part  in  the  political 
movements  that  agitated  Ireland.  Before  Mitchel's  trial  I  was  slowly  recov 
ering  from  a  severe  illness,  and  could  do  little  more  than  sympatize  with 
the  movements  of  the  Young  Ireland  party  —  which  I  did  with  all  my 
soul. 

"  Even  after  that  event  had  aroused  the  South,  I  kept  away  from  any 
public  adhesion  to  the  party.  I  wished  to  wait  until  the  time  for  action 
had  come,  when  I  made  up  my  mind  to  take  to  the  Gaulty  Mountains,  and 
raise  the  old  followers  of  my  family  along  that  range. 

From   this   purpose  I    was    dissuaded   by   the  Rev.    Mr.   Power,*   curate  of 


*Rev.  Patrick  Power  was  a  native  of  Cappoquln,  Co.  Waterford,  of  which  place  he  died 
Parish  Priest.  He  was  fourth  brother  in  the  sacred  ministry  of  the  Most  Rev.  John  Power, 
late  Bishop  of  Waterford.  He  was  gifted  with  literary  acquirements  of  a  high  order,  and 


266  MEMOIliS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FBANC1S  MEAUHER. 

the  parish  where  I  lived,  (Ballyneill,)  who  wished  to  establish  a  club  in 
his  locality,  of  which  he  would  have  me  take  the  direction.  I  did  so,  and 
with  the  Rev.  gentleman's  help,  I  soon  succeeded  in  establishing  a  rather 
respectable  body  of  men,  and  their  arming  was  goi::.g  on  with  vigor. 

Out  of  this  sprung  other  rural  clubs,  all  in  the  same  district,  of  which 
I  had  the  management,  and  our  ramifications  were  extending  widely  through 
the  district  of  which  Carrick  was  the  centre. 

"In  Carrick  there  were  several  clubs  established,  all  under  the  patron 
age  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Byrne,  C.  C.,  of  that  town,  who  was  the  great  ori 
ginator  and  chief  promoter  of  the  movement  in  that  quarter. 

Under  his  auspices  a  'Central  Board,'  composed  of  the  Presidents  of  the 
various  clubs,  was  appointed  to  sit  in  Carrick,  of  which  Dr.  A.  O'Ryan,  of 
that  town,  was  elected  chairman. 

"Of  this  'Board  of  Directors'  Father  Byrne,  through  Dr.  O'Ryan  and 
others  of  its  most  influential  members,  held,  though  indirectly,  the  chief 
direction.  I  firmly  believe  that  no  serious  mea^-ure  was  ever  adopted  by 
that  body  without  his  advice  and  sane  ion. 

"Thus,  in  South  Tipperary,  at  least,  the  originators  of  the  movement 
were  priests.  They  publicly  told  the  people  to  Ibrrn  clubs,  to  make  pikes, 
and  many  a  one  proclaimed  from  tue  altar  that  he  would  be  with  the  people 
and  lead  them  on  the  day  of  action. 

"Thus  the}r  (these  Young  Ireland  priests,)  acquired  an  importance  in  the 
movement  that  they  otherwise  could  not  possess. 

"  The  older  priests  opposed  the  movement  a  little  at  first,  but  such  was 
the  impetus  given  to  the  revolutionary  organization  by  Mitchel's  deportation, 
that  their  opposition  was  soon  silenced.  Silent  they  remained  for  a  few  weeks, 
and  their  younger  and  more  sanguine  brethren  had  a  clear  field  for  some 
weeks  previous  to  the  attempted  rising. 

"Had  not  the  Young  Ireland  leaders  calculated  upon  the  cordial  and 
active  cooperation  of  those  clerical  revolutionists,  they  never  should  have 
attempted  to  raise  the  people  after  the  fashion  they  did.  As  it  was,  they 
were  the  main  hinge  upon  which  the  whole  movement  turned. 

"  While    tiie    k  Old    Ireland '    priests    were    thus    standing    upon   their  high 


was   the    author  of   the   "  Moral    and    Doctrinal  Catechism,"  In   four   volumes.    He  was  alBO 
author  of  a  beautiful  translation  of  Orslni's  "  Life  of  the   Blessed   Virgiu  Mary." 

John  O'Mahouy  bears  testimony  to  Father  rower's  unswerving  fidelity  to  the  national 
cause  —  through  all  its  vicissitudes  —  in  1848.  The  people  amongst  whom  he  was  born,  know 
that  he  was  ucvoted  to  the  same  principles  throuch  all  his  after  life,  and  they  reverence 
his  memory  alike  for  his  patriotism  and  for  his  piety. 


JOHN  OMAHONT  S  PERSONAL   NARRATIVE.  267 

eminences,  looking  down  upon  the  daily  progress  of  the  organization,  and 
while  their  Young  Ireland  brethren  were  loudly  sounding  the  '  tocsin  of 
war,'  the  repeated  arrests  of  the  club-men  in  Dublin  were  exasperating  the 
public  mind.  Those  of  Mr.  Meagher  in  Waterford,  and  Doheny  in  Cashel, 
seemed  to  bring  popular  excitement  to  a  climax.  Men  asked  '  how  long 
were  those  arrests  to  be  submitted  to?'  'When  or  where  was  resistance  to 
commence?' 

"At  this  time  it  was  resolved  by  the  clubs  of  South  Tipperary,  (and  I 
understood  every  where.)  that  no  more  arrests  should  be  allowed  to  be  made. 
That  resistance  was  to  be  made  when  and  wherever  such  arrest  was  attempted. 
I  cannot  vouch  for  this  resolve  having  emanated  from  Headquarters,  but  it 
was  well  understood  in  all  our  clubs  about  Carrick. 

"  While  things  were  in  this  state  Mr.  Meagher  and  Mr.  Doheny  held 
their  meeting  on  Sliabh-na-Mon,  alter  which  they  entered  Carrick  and  held 
another  meeting  there.  The  club-men  met  'them  in  military  array  some  miles 
from  town,  and  the  whole  country  was  in  a  blaze  of  enthusiasm.  We  all 
determined  to  fight  sooner  than  let  them  be  again  arrested.  Xo  such  attempt 
was  made,  though  the  town  swarmed  with  military  and  police,  who,  on  this 
occasion,  were  strictly  confined  to  their  barracks. 

"Next  morning,  (it  was  Monday,)  I  was  early  roused  from  my  bed  by 
a  messenger  from  Carrick,  calling  on  me  to  arm  my  men  and  enter  the 
town,  for  that  the  arrests  had  commenced.  I  did  so,  had  my  club-men 
assembled,  and  we  marched  upon  the  town.  At  its  entrance  we  were  met 
by  Father  Byrne,  Mr.  O'Douuell  and  Mr.  Feehan.  His  reverence  thanked  me 
uud  my  club  for  our  prompt  attendance  on  tne  call  —  said  that  the  necessity 
for  fighting  was  over  —  for  that  day,  as  the  magistrates  had  yielded  the  pris 
oners—terrified  at  the  determined  muster  of  the  clubs.  On  the  men  mur 
muring  at  returning  without  seeing  the  town,  he  told  them  that  the  day  had 
noc  come  yet;  that  no  more  arrests  of  Club-men  would  be  submitted  to 
without  fighting,  not  even  of  the  humblest  member;  witness  that  day's  pro 
ceedings;  that  the  time  was  corning  fast  that  he  would  be  with  them  him 
self;  ai;d  he  ended  by  saying:  "  Jly  heart,  my  heart  is  panting  for  that 
day ! " 

"This,  as  I  recollect  it,  is  the  substance  of  his  speech.  The  phrase  is 
given  in  his  exact  words." 

"  I  dwell  on  this  circumstance  to  show  the  means  by  which  this  gen 
tleman  and  others  became  indispensable  to  the  movement. 

"  JJetter  they   had  never  come  into   it. 

"  It  was  clearly  understood  amongst  the  club-men,  lay  and  clerical,  that 
the  signal  for  the  rising  should  be  the  attempt  of  the  Government  to  make 


268  MEMOIRS    OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

political  arrests.  That  the  fight  was  to  commence,  when  and  wherever  such 
an  attempt  was  to  be  made.  Father  Byrne's  declaration  to  the  assembling 
clubs  on  the  morning  of  the  proposed  rescue,  left  no  doubt  upon  the  people 
of  South  Tipperary's  mind  on  this  head. 

u  A  week  had  nearly  passed  over  us  since  that  day  of  muster.  It  was 
passed  by  us  all  in  most  active  preparations.  Sentinels  were  placed  upon 
nearly  all  the  smith's  forges.  Pikes  were  made  in  every  hamlet,  and  night 
and  day  the  anvils  rang  the  call  to  arms.  There  were  but  few  in  our  locality 
that  could  buy  iron  for  a  pike-head,  who  were  unprovided  with  the  imple 
ment. 

"  On  Sunday  morning,  (a  week  after  the  Sliuhh-na-mon  meeting,)  a  mes 
senger  arrived  at  Ballyneill,  —  I  foget  whether  from  Father  Byrne  of  Carrick, 
or  from  Dr.  O'Ryan,  —  to  tell  our  club-men  of  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas 
Corpus  Act.  He  looked  somewhat -more  neivous  than  the  occasion  then  seemed 
to  demand,  considering  the  resolve  we  had  already  made  as  to  arrests,  and 
knowing  that  many,  if  not  all  of  us,  were  already  in  the  power  of  British 
law,  and  'that  we  might  be  taken  up  any  day  without  the  trouble  of  that 
idle  formality. 

"•  It  struck  me,  from  the  man's  manner,  that  there  was  some  dismay 
caused  by  the  news  amongst  the  leaders  in  Carrick.  and  that  something  was 
going  wrong  there,  notwithstanding  the  bold  resolve  we  had  so  lately  adop 
ted.  It  soon  passed  from  my  mind  in  the  hurry  of  organizing  and  schooling 
my  own  men;  nor  did  I  set  much  importance  upon  the  part  some  of  the 
Carrick  leaders  might  act:  not  dreaming  that  circumstances  could  make  their 
conduct  so  very  important  to  the  movement. 

11  On  Monday  morning  I  met  Messrs.  O'Brien.  Meaghor  and  Doheny  on 
their  way  to  Carrick.  O'Brien  asked  alrmt  the  feeling  in  case  he  and  the 
other  leaders  should  be  arrested?  AVould  the  people  submit  to  it?  AVluit 
did  they  think  of  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act? 

"I  answered  him  by  mentioning  the  resolution  as  to  arrests  that  was 
go  well  understood  by  us  all,  —  told  what  happened  on  that  day  week,  when 
some  few  little  boys,  of  no  importance  to  the  cause,  had  been  taken  up. 
Being  resolved  to  fight  for  the  humblest  member  of  our  clubs,  \ve  surely 
would  not  suffer  the  arrest  of  him  and  his  friends,  who  were  so  important 
to  the  movement. 

"  He  said  he  was  going  to  see  what  the  men  of  Carrick  wore  prrpa-  ed 
to  do.  I  told  him  that  I  knew  their  mind  upon  the  matter,  —  suggested  his 
waiting  until  I  had  collected  a  bodv  of  armed  men  to  attend  him  into  town, 


JOHN  O'MAHOWS  PERSONAL  NARRATIVE.  269 

—  which    he    declined,    as   premature.     Said   he   would   send   out   for   me   if   the 
occasion  required   a   mus'er. 

"He   left  me,    and   I   returned   to   my   pike-making. 

"Impatient  to  know  what  was  doing  in  Carrick,  I  soon  left  off,  and 
rode  into  town.  I  found  there  the  greatest  excitement  and  enthusiasm. 
Some  thousands  of  men  thronged  the  streets,  and  among  them  all  I  saw 
no  sign  of  going  back  on  their  former  resolve.  They  were  unarmed,  however, 
not  yet  knowing  what  their  leaders  wished  them  to  do. 

"Having  forced  a  passage  through  the  crowd  to  the  house  of  Doctor 
Furcell,  where  O'Brien  and  his  'companions  had  stopped,  there  I  found 
assembled  the  principal  members  of  the  Carrick  "Central  Board "  —  Messrs. 
O'Kyan,  Purcell,  Rivers.  O  Dounell,  Cavauagh,  &c.  There  appeared  nothing 
but  doubt  and  dismay  amongst  these  men.  They  seemed  confounded  at  the 
magnitude  of  the  step  they  were  called  on  to  take,  and  a  very  manifest 
desire  to  get  Mr.  O'Brien  out  of  town  appeared  to  sway  the  great  majority 
of  them. 

•'One  man  asked  the  gentlemen  — '  Why  they  had  come  to  that  little 
town  to  commence  the  rising?  Was  Carrick  able  to  fight  the  British  empire! 
Were  they  —  the  leaders  —  rejected  by  everywhere  else?'  Some  time  was 
consumed  asking  these  and  other  equally  seasonable  questions,  which  Mr. 
O'Brien  listened  to  with  evident  disappointunnt  and  disgust. 

"When  the  meeting  became  a  little  less  tumultuous,  Mr.  O'Brien  told 
them  that  •  he  came  to  Carrick  in  preference  to  any  other  town,  because  he 
understood  the  people  were  better  organized  and  armed  there  than  in  most 
other  places.  That  the  thing  should  commence  somewhere,  and  that  Carrick 
seemed  to  be  the  place  for  such  commencement.'  He  said  that  he  '  did  not 
want  to  engage  Carrick  single-hand  against  England.  That  he  wanted  from  them 
<i  body  of  six  hundred  young  men,  armed  with  guns,  and  well  provided  with  am 
munition,  and  having  sufficient  means  for  self  support,  to  guard  him  and  his 
companions  u-hilc  they  were  raising  the  country  '* 

"  For   this   no   man   was  prepared,  not   anticipating   any  such  demand.     Xo 


*The  passage  I  have  italicized  affords  a  singular  instance  of  Mr.  O'Brien's  want  of 
comprehension  of  the  resources  of  the  Tipperary  people,  and,  also,  of  what  the  immediate 
and  inevitable  consequences  would  be  of  such  a  muster  of  armed  men  apptarlng  in  a 
•"Proclaimed  distiict "  — the  maicli  of  all  the  British  forces  in  the  vicinity  against  them, 
and  the  inauguration  of  WAR— without  a  day's  delay.  O'Mahony  was  well  aware  of  this, 
when  making  the  thoughtful  suggestion  he  di  •  —  In  defence  of  O'Brien's  extraordinary 
proposition;  but  as  he  belie  Jed  in  fighting  at  once  — this  method  of  opening  the  campaign 
appeared  to  him  as  suitable  as  any  other  — under  the  circumstances. 


270  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

President  present  could  say  how  many  such  men  his  club  could  afford.  Two 
men  present  volunteered  to  form  part  of  such  a  band.  The  others  were 
mute. 

"  After  much  talk,  I  finally  suggested,  that,  as  the  revolutionary  leaders 
had  done  us  the  compliment  of  coming  into  our  town  to  make  the  first 
appeal  to  the  country,  and  as  we  were  not  prepared  to  give  them  the  guard 
they  required  at  once,  we  were,  at  least,  bouud  to  see  what  we  could  do 
towards  making  up  such  a  guard.  In  order  to  do  so  we  should  keep  them 
in  town  and  defend  them,  if  necessary,  during  the  coming  night.  On  the 
next  morning  we  could  attend  them  in  full  force  to  the  next  town,  and 
thev  would  be  thus  enabled  to  make  up  the  body  as  they  went  along. 

"We  had  no  right  to  ask  these  gentlemen  why  they  called  upon  Car- 
rick.  Our  own  boastings  brought  them  to  us.  That  the  call  was  not  prema 
ture  ev^ry  man  present  knew.  That  for  the  past  fortnight  our  minds  were 
fully  made  up  to  suffer  no  more  arrests,  but  to  begin  the  fight  on  the  first 
attempt  made  to  effect  one.  Having  declared  ourselves  willing  to  fight  foi 
any  member  of  our  body  and  proclaimed  it  loudly,  what  right  had  we  to 
complain  if  the  chiefs  had  taken  us  at  our  word?  We  should  not  have 
promised  unless  we  could  perform.  The  movement  was  ail  up  if  the  leaders 
were  suffered  to  be  arrested  now ! 

"Many  agreed,  or  seemed  to  agree  with  me,  and  we  finally  all  agreed 
that  Messrs.  O'Brien,  Meagher  and  Doheny  should  remain  in  town  that 
night ;  that  the  country  clubs  should  be  summoned  round  them  in  arms ; 
that  they  should  bivouac  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town  all  night,  while  the 
townsmen  kept  watch  within,  and  that  any  hostile  attempt  from  the  garri 
son  should  be  resisted. 

"  Messrs.  O'Brien  and  Meagher  then  addressed  the  impatient  crowd  in 
the  street,  who  enthusiastically  promised  to  die  in  their  defence  if  necessary. 
After  this  I  left  the  meeting  for  the  distinct  purpose  of  mustering  the 
country  clubs. 

"Not  one  present  could  have  been  ignorant  of  the  fact,  when,  before 
leaving  them,  1  returned  to  the  room  three  times  after  mounting  my  horse, 
as  I  heard  noisy  discussion  springing  up  after  I  left  each  time.  These  sev 
eral  times  i  asked  them  were  they  about  changing  their  minds?  and  each 
time  1  was  answered  in  the  negative. 

"  Mr.    0  Brien   and   his  companions  were   to   remain   in   town. 

"One  thing  struck  me  as  remarkable  at  this  meeting.  Father  Byrne 
was  not  to  be  found.  The  day  after  which  his  heart  panted  had  not  come, 
It  was,  however,  principally  composed  of  his  creatures  —  professional  men, 
comfortable  farmers  and  shop-keepers  —  who  would  do  nothing  without  his 


O'XAHOXY'ti  PERSONAL   NARRATIVE.  271 


sanction.  Of  some  of  them  I  heard  or  saw  no  more  until  their  "miraculous 
escapes  "  to  France  or  America  were  proclaimed  by  the  public  press.  Some 
of  them  I  know  to  have  left  the  meeting  that  evening  after  I  departed, 
and  never  drew  bridle  until  they  put  the  sea  between  themselves  and  the 
enemy. 

'•But   I   anticipate. 

'•I  went  off  to  muster  the  country  clubs  from  the  Tipperary  side  of 
the  Suir.  I  sent  trusty  messengers  to  those  Presidents  who  were  too  dis 
tant  from  me  to  see  personally,  and  visited  some  others.  I  then  visited 
the  chief  men  of  my  own  club.  Everywhere  I  found  enthusiasm  and  con 
fidence. 

"Having  appointed  seven  o'clock  as  the  hour  we  were  to  meet  at  our 
parish  chapel,  I  went  home  to  dine.  It  was  then  six.  I  was  tired,  but 
full  of  confidence  in  the  prospect  before  us.  Dinner  over,  at  seven  o'clock 
I  got  to  horse  again,  but  at  my  gate  I  met  a  messenger  from  Dr.  O'Ryan 
—  President  of  our  Central  Board,  (I  may  call  him  our  Colonel.)  —  say 
ing  that  '  those  for  whose  protection  we  were  to  meet  had  left  Carrick, 
and  that  the  men  were  not  to  be  brought  into  town.'  This  placed  me  in 
an  embarrassing  position,  not  only  with  my  own  club-men,  but  with  those 
distant  clubs  to  whom  I  had  sent  messengers. 

"  I  went  to  my  Club  notwithstanding,  and  found  them  assembled  to  the 
number  of  four  hundred.  Among  them  they  had  eighty  guns  and  a  goodly 
muster  of  pikes.  They  were  all  armed  with  some  weapon. 

•'  I  was  spared  the  telling  them  the  disheartening  news.  Father  Morrissy, 
thoir  parish  priest,  who  had  been  reconuoiteriug  in  Carrick  all  day,  had 
been  with  them  on  his  way  home.  He  told  them  that  all  was  peace  again. 
That  O'Brien  left,  &c.  He,  in  fine,  sought  to  disperse  them.  They  refused 
to  be  dispersed  by  him.  however,  but  steadily  waited  for  me. 

"  I  had  to  confirm  the  statement  as  to  the  departure  of  the  leaders, 
but  to  disabuse  them  as  to  the  fight's  being  'postponed  for  a  fortnight,'  (as 
they  were  told).  I  said  it  was  possible  we  might  be  called  out  again  to 
morrow.  Having  them  all  assembled,  I  got  them  into  military  array,  and 
kept  marching  them  until  late  in  the  night,  and  then  sent  them  home  in 
much  better  heart  than  I  was  myself,  not  knowing  what  the  morrow  might 
bring. 

"  I  then  went  to  pay  a  parting  visit  to  a  friend  whom  I  left  at  twelve 
o'clock. 

••  i  heard  some  firing  and  rode  towards  it.  Found  it  proceeded  from  the 
Grangemockler  men,  en  route  for  Carrick,  with  a  Mr.  Coughlan,  their  Pres 
ident,  at  their  head.  They  were  at  least  one  thousand  strong.  They  had 


272  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

met  Dr.  O'Eyan's  (or  I  may  call  him  Father  Byrne's)  messenger,  but  they 
would  riot  be  turned  back  until  they  heard  what  I  had  to  say  on  the 
subject. 

"  I    had   the  disagreeable  task  of   confirming  the  command   they  received 
and  endeavoring   to   do   away   with  its  evil  effects. 

'•I  saw  them  home,  and  hoped  to  have  kept  them  still  expectant  and 
eager  for  the  fight. 

"  It  was  now  morning,  and  I  lay  down  to  rest  a  lit'le  previous  to  the 
coming  day  that  I  hoped  would  be  an  eventful  one.  Little  time,  however, 
had  I  for  repose.  The  club  leaders,  or  rather  the  Faction  Chiefs,  from  tho 
more  distant  parishes,  came  pouring  in  on  me.  asking  why  they  had  been 
called  to  arms,  and  why,  having  been  so,  they  were  countermanded  when 
already  ou  their  march?  From  the  reports  I  then,  and  afterwards  got,  of 
the  numbers  collected  on  the  different  roads  radiating  round  CarrSck,  and 
comparing  them  with  what  I  saw  myself  of  the  two  parishes  mustered  on 
the  road  that  passed  by  my  place,  I  have  no  doubt  on  my  mind  that  between 
seven  and  eight  o'clock  on  that  night  there  were  twelve  thousand  men,  at 
least,  (I  made  it  at  fifteen  thousand.)  on  march  for  Carrick-on-Suir.  Enough, 
surely,  to  commence  the  Revolution  with  —  at  short  notice. 

"Thus  was  a  great,  and,  as  subsequent  events  proved,  a  fatal  check  re 
ceived  at  the  very  outset.  Many  influential  farmers  who  came  out  on  that  day 
never  moved  afterwards  —  doubting  the  capacity  of  their  leaders,  they  ap 
peared  terrified  at  the  step  they  had  taken. 

"A  little  after  dawn  Dcheny  arrived  at  my  house.  After  talking  over 
the  sad  mistake  of  the  day  before,  we  rode  out  to  see  its  effect  upon  the 
people.  In  a  ride  of  some  twenty  miles  round  the  skirts  of  the  Sliabh-na- 
inon  hills,  we  found  the  people  still  busy  preparing.  Scarcely  a  house  did 
we  see  that  there  was  not  a  pike  displayed:  everywhere  men  were  fitting 
them  on  handles,  or  sharpening  them  on  the  door  flags. 

•'  Crowds  flocked  around  us  wherever  we  stopped,  asking  for  news  of 
O'Brien  and  his  movements  —  of  which  we  could  tell  them  nothing.  All  we 
could  say  was,  that,  disappointed  in  Carrick,  he  went  to  raise  the  flag  else 
where.  We  told  them  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness,  as  we  were  in  ex 
pectation  of  being  called  on  to  join  him  at  once. 

"This  satisfied  them.  The  work  of  preparation  again  went  on,  and  the 
forges  were  again  set  to  work.  We  remarked,  that  of  all  the  men  we  met 
that  morning,  but  one  man  spoke  against  the  rising,  and  he  was  soon 
silenced. 

"  On    our    return    we    met    Meagher    at    my  house.     He    told    us    O'Brien 


JOHX  OUAhOXY'S  FEKSOXAL   NARRATIVE.  273 

was  in  Cashel,  that  he  was  himself  going  to  Waterford  to  bring  up  his 
club — some  one  thousand  strong.  A  club,  —  if  I  understand  rightly,  —  pledged 
to  follow  him  at  a  moment's  notice.  I  was  to  protect  it  in  passing  the  Suir, 
with  what  forces  I  could  collect. 

"  Doheny  and  I  saw  him  across  the  Suir,  and  into  a  c'ab  in  the  woods  of 
Coolnainuck.  Doheny  left  me  shortly  after,  and  I  rode  into  Carrick  to  see 
either  Father  Byrne  or  Dr.  O'llyan.  I  saw  the  latter  gentleman,  but  could 
not  see  the  former.  From  him  I  learned  that  himself,  Byrne,  and  all  the 
local  leaders  were  against  the  movement,  as  premature.  —  That  Byrne  would 
have  nothing  to  do  with  it. — That  it  should  be  put  off  at  least  a  fortnight, 
until  the  harvest  ripened.  —  That  O'Brien  must  be  mad. 

"  Upon  leaving  him  I  met  many  of  the  mechanics  who  told  me  that  they 
were  ready  at  a  call.  Not  to  mind  Father  Byrne  and  Co.,  but  to  call  on 
them  myself.  They  could  by  no  means  comprehend  why  it  was  that  O'Brien 
left  on  the  previous  evening,  and  said — 'why  did  he  not  appeal  directly  to 
the  men  of  the  people?'  They  blamed  Byrne,  O'llyan,  Rivers  &c.,  and 
promised  to  be  prepared  for  the  next  call,  and  uot  to  mind  presidents  or 
priests. 

"I  was  occupied  all  the  rest  of  the  day  receiving  men  coming  for  in 
structions,  and  giving  them  and  myself  change  of  work,  for  the  very  un 
fortunate  turn  things  seemed  to  be  taking.  —  Preparing  to  cooperate  with 
Meagher  and  the  advancing  Waterford  men. 

"  Meagher  arrived  alone  He  said,  that  on  coming  to  Waterford  at  night, 
he  had  sent  for  the  chief  men  of  his  club,  and.  (I  believe)  Father  Tracy. 
The  men  came  to  him,  Tracy  did  not.  On  his  asking  them  to  march,  they 
said  'they  could  not  without  Father  Tracy's  advice  and  .consent. — Too  late 
then  to  look  for  it,  or  to  muster  the  club-men.  —  Meagher  not  encouraged 
to  wait.'  This  Tracy,  I  afterwards  understood,  was.  the  Byrne  of  Water- 
ford —  Primum  Mobile  and  chief  adviser  of  the  clubs,  though  not  personally 
presiding  over  any  club  himself.  (Meagher  does  not  seem  to  blame  this 
man.  1  do  —  from  the  circumstance  that  his  conduct  on  this  first  appeal  to 
him  was  exactly  the  counterpart  of  Byrne's). 

"  It  seemed  as  if  the  opponents  of  the  organization  had  planned  to  break 
it  up  by  means  of  those  very  men,  who  had  contributed  luuch  to  spread 
it,  and  who  in  so  doing  had  gained  tne  entire  confidence  of  the  fighting 
portion  of  the  people.  Carrick-njen  have  told  uoe,  in  excusing  Byrne,  that 
he  had  been  forbidden  by  his  superior,  a  few  days  previous,  to  meddle  fur 
ther  in  the  matter.  If  so,  he  must  have  also  got  orders  to  allay  the  storoi 
he  had  helped  to  raise.  No  uiau  in  so  good  a  position  to  do  so." 
81 


2/4  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

\ 

"FOLLOWING  THE   LEADER." 

(CONTINUED.) 

The  foregoing  narrative,  by  the  principal  actor  in  the  events  which 
transpired  during  that  memorable  week  in  Carrick  and  its  vicinity,  comes 
down  to  the  date  of  my  arrival  in  that  town.  What  took  place  under  my 
own  observation,  during  the  two  succeeding  days,  I  shall  now  relate : 

Though  much  fatigued  when  I  retired  to  rest  on  Thursday  night,  I  en 
joyed  but  little  sleep;  for,  all  through  the  night  the  whole  population  seemed 
to  be  on  the  streets  and  under  considerable  excitement;  while,  at  frequent 
intervals,  a  bugle-call  announced  the  presence  of  some  military  attachment, 
whose  steady  tramp  could  be  readily  distinguished  among  the  promiscuous 
voices  that,  uninteimittingly,  filled  the  air.  From  the  few  remarks  I  could 
hear  passed  —  on  the  street  and  in  the  house.  —  I  understood  that  the  sol 
diers  encamped  at  Besborough  (three  miles  below  Cat  rick,)  had  been  marched 
into  town,  but  what  their  object  was,  none  seemed  to  comprehend.  The 
following  morning  threw  some  light  on  the  question. 

At  an  early  hour  the  streets  of  Carrick  were  occupied  by  strong  detach 
ments  of  military  and  police.  The  soldiers  were  of  all  arms  —  horse,  foot, 
and  artillery.  Two  pieces  of  cannon  were  placed  in  positions  commanding 
both  the  Main  street  and  that  leading  to  the  bridge  over  the  Suir  to  Ca-> 
rick-Beg.  Behind  the  artillery  strong  bodies  of  cavalry  were  posted.  The 
infantry,  in  small  detachments,  occupied  all  the  street-crossings  as  far  as  I 
could  discein  from  the  door  of  my  lodging-house.  An  ominous  and  unna 
tural  silence  among  the  onlookers  of  those  morning  preparations,  contrasted 
strangely  with  the  turmoil  of  the  previous  nighr. 

After  some  two  hours  of  anxious  suspense,  the  inhabitants  of  Carrick 
became  aware  of  the  cause  of  this  warlike  display.  A  search  for  arms  had, 
all  that  morning,  been  carried  on  in  Carnck-Beg  —  on  the  Waterford  side  of 
the  river,  and  the  larger  town  was  occupied,  to  prevent  its  rebellious  in 
mates,  from  interfering  with  the  legalized  marauders.  It  soon  became  appa 
rent  to  friends  and  foes,  that  the  result  of  the  raid  was  not  commensurate 
with  the  preparations  it  entailed ;  for,  in  the  midst  of  a  dense  column  of 
police,  —  marching  solemnly  up  Bridge  street,  there  appeared  a  common  care 
containing  about  a  half  dozen  pitch-forks,  and,  conspicuous  among  them  —  a 
veritable  "pike." 

The   spectacle   had   a    surprisingly   marked  effect  on   the   hitherto   scowling 


"FOLLOWING    THE  LEADER."  275 

countenances  of  the  people.  A  smile  of  triumphant  scorn  and  derision  was 
observable  on  the  faces  of  the  still  silent  men;  while  most  of  the  women, 
and  all  the  girls,  gave  unrestrained  vent  to  their  feelings,  in  language  suited 
to  their  individual  styles  of  expression  —  from  the  mock  sympathetic  to  the 
bitterly  sarcastic. 

One  young  damsel  told  the  crest-fallen  "  Peelers "  that  "  after  all  their 
spying  and  hunting,  there  was  as  many  pikes  in  that  little  town  over,  as, 
if  '  the  word '  was  given,  would  drive  every  one  of  them  headlong  into  the 
Suir!"  The  probable  truth  of  the  volunteered  information  did  not  tend  to 
make  its  recipients  more  pleased  with  the  gentle  '•  Informer,''  —  if  one  could 
judge  by  their  scowling  looks. 

The  uncertainty  as  to  what  might  next  happen  created  a  feeling  of  un 
easiness  among  the  business  portion  of  the  community,  one  effect  of  which 
was  the  desire  to  convert  their  spare  bank-notes  into  hard  cash,  and  a  con 
sequent  run  on  the  two  banks  in  the  town.  This  circumstance  affected  my 
self  'and  comrades  personally,  in  as  much  as  our  financial  resources  consisted 
of  a  solitary  pound-note,  which  we  could  not  get  changed  to  provide  our 
breakfasts, — even  the  banks  refused  to  accommodate  us  as  it  was  not  one  of 
their  own  denomination  —  and  they  could  not  foretell  the  probable  extent  of 
the  "run''  upon  themselves. 

As  the  nearest  "Provincial  Bank  of  Ireland"  office  was  that  of  Water- 
ford,  I  bethought  me  Of  asking  Father  Byrne  to  change  the  "  note/'  I  was 
going  to  see  him,  in  any  case,  as  the  most  likely  person  to  give  me  infor 
mation  as  to  where  I  might  find  those  we  were  in  search  of.  I  knew  him 
by  sight,  as  well  as  by  reputation,  but  was  not  personally  known  to  him. 

I  had  no  difficulty  in  finding  him,  and,  on  my  telling  him  who  I  was, 
and  what  brought  me  to  Carrick  —  together  with  the  predicament  we  were 
in  for  "  change,''  he,  at  once,  accommodated  me  ill  the  latter  respect,  but,  at 
the  same  time,  advised  me  to  abandon  the  revolutionary  movement  (as  it 
could  not  succeed.)  and  return  home  at  once.  lie  added,  that  O'Brien  and 
Meagher  had  been  in  Carrick,  a  Itw  days  previously,  and  that  he  thought 
O'Brien  must  be  "  mad."1 

From  his  manner  I  felt  that  he  used  the  term  in  its  fullest  significance, 
and  was  astonished,  —  though  not  so  much  at  the  assertion  itself,  as  at  its 
coming  from  such  a  quarter.  Of  course,  I  thought  Father  Byrne  was  egre- 
giously  mistaken,  and  that  the  particularly  exciting  circumstances  under 
which  his  first  interview  with  Mr.  O'Brien  took  place,  must  have  deceived 
him  as  to  that  gentleman's  real  mental  characteristics,  —  among  which  cool 
ness,  prudence,  and  self-control  were  most  prominent.  I,  however,  made  no 


276  MEMOIES  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHER. 

comment  on  that  portion  of  his  argument,  but  declined  to  follow  his  kindly- 
given  advice  —  asking  him  "what  grounds  had  he  now  for  despondency  as 
to  the  success  of  the  revolutionary  movement,  that  did  not  exist  a  few 
weeks  before,  when  he  was  its  most  enthusiastic  and  efficient  propagandist 
in  that  district? 

To  this  he  replied  —  that  he  "could  not  explain  his  change  of  opinion, 
but  that,  as  matters  were  then,  he  could  see  nothing  but  ultimate  disaster 
to  the  devoted  men  who  persevered  in  upholding  what  he  believed  to  be  a 
hopeless  cause." 

So  ended  our  interview.  We  parted  with  mutual  good  wishes,  but  neither 
of  us  convinced  as  to  the  propriety  of  the  other's  course. 

Finding  no  clue  in  Carrick  as  to  the  whereabouts  of  any  of  the  promi 
nent  national  leaders,  we  determined  to  proceed  to  Waterford  on  the  next 
day,  hoping  to  find  some  intelligence  of  Meagher  in  his  native  city.  On 
Saturday  morning  we,  accordingly,  set  out  by  way  of  road  on  the  left, 
(or  Kilkenny1)  side  of  the  Suir.  On  passing  Besborough  Demesne  we  ob 
served  that  it  was  occupied  by  a  camp  of  Infantry.  A  sentinel  stood 
at  the  gate  wearing  the  uniform  of  the  3d  Buffs.  As  this  Regiment  had 
been  lately  stationed  in  Dublin,  and  had  gained  some  notoriety  there  for 
its  demonstrative  Irish  feelings  —  we  engaged  in  conversation  with  the  sentinel 
—  who  appeared  to  be  almost  exhausted  from  fatigue  —  or  want  of  sleep. 

His  unmistakable  Munster  accent,  and  Celtic  countenance,  led  us  to  re 
mark  on  the  exploits  of  his  regiment  some  weeks  before  in  an  "  argument " 
with  the  72d  Highlanders  at  "  Molloy'a  Free-and-Easy "  in  Queen  street, 
Dublin.  It  was  enough  to  open  his  heart.  He  explained  the  cause  of  his 
tired  appearance  by  telling  us  that  —  for  the  past  three  nights  —  the  sol 
diers  in  camp  had  been  marched  to  Waterford,  and  marched  back  to  their 
quarters  in  the  day-time  —  for  the  purpose  of  impressing  the  country  people 
on  their  line  of  march  with  the  opinion  that  fresh  troops  were  daily  being 
landed  from  England.  He  also  told  us,  (what  we  were  cognizant  of  already,) 
that  two-thirds  of  the  regiment  were  true  Irishmen  —  and  were  ready  to 
prove  it  —  when  called  upon. 

(Many  of  them  did  prove  their  allegiance  to  their  native  land,  two 
months  afterwards,  by  their  presence  in  O'Mahony's  camp  on  the  Commeragh 
hills — fraternizing  with  the  "rebels.") 

Fully  satisfied  that  the  national  cause  had  nothing  to  apprehend  from 
the  troops  encamped  at  Besborough,  we  proceeded  on  our  journey  in  buoy 
ant  spirits.  Neither  on  the  road, —nor  in  the  villages  of  Piltown  and  Mon- 
coin,  through  which  we  passed  —  did  we  notice  any  appearance  of  excite- 


"  FOLLOWING    THE  LEADER.''  277 

ment  —  on  the  contrary,  people  seemed  to  be  unusually  reserved  and  ill  at 
ease.  There  was  something  uncongenial  in  their  manner  that  contrasted  un- 
javorably  with  the  open-hearted  candor  of  the  Waterford  and  Tipperary 
people,  and  we  were  glad  when  we  crossed  the  bridge  over  the  Suir,  and 
found  ourselves  once  more  in  Munster. 

THE     CITY     OF    WATERFORD, 
SATURDAY,  JULY  29xn. 

It  was  about  2  P.  M.,  when  we  arrived  in  Waterford.  Proceeding  down 
the  noble  Quay,  we  found  it  studded  for  its  entire  length  with  groups  of 
stalwart,  dark-browed  men.  Among  them  were  many  "Carrick  Boatmen"  — 
easily  recognized  by  their  heavy  pilot-cloth  jackets  and  peculiar  head-gear. 
A  great  portion  of  the  others  seemed  to  belong  to  the  class  of  men  usually 
employed  about  the  shipping;  but  the  mechanics  of  the  city  were  also  well 
represented.  But  very  few  were  engaged  at  work  of  any  kind;  while  the 
eyes  of  many  were,  scowlingly,  directed  to  a  row  of  five  war-vessels,  of 
various  classes,  that  were  moored  at  convenient  distances  from  one  another, 
in  the  middle  of  the  river,  with  their  broadsides  to  the  city. 

As  most  of  these  on-lookers  belonged  to  the  "Men  of  no  Property" 
class  — the  possibility  of  their  city  being  bombarded  by  those  foreign  pirates 
gave  them  but  little  concern.  In  fact,  judging  from  their  comments  on  the 
subject,  delivered  in  our  presence,  a  few  moments  later.  —  they  felt  that  such 
action  would  chiefly  damage  the  upholders  of  British  rule  —  both  in  person 
and  property,  —  and  that  it  would  also  compel  the  "well-to-do  neutrals"  to 
take  one  side  or  the  other,  by  burning  them  out  of  their  comfortable  "free 
holds,"  at  short  notice.  As  they  truthfully  remarked: — -'The  men  who  meant 
to  fight  would  leave  the  city,  any  how,  —  for  no  one  was  fool  enough  to 
think  it  could  be  held  without  artillery." 

Before  we  had  gone  far  down  the  Quay,  we  were  accosted  by  a  mem 
ber  o^f  one  of  those  gatherings.  He  enquired — "who  we  were;  where  we  had 
come  from;  and  what  our  business  was  in  Waterford?"  The  man's  manner 
and  tone  was  civil  but  determined,  and  —  as  we  felt — justified  by  the  circum 
stances.  I  soon  satisfied  him  as  to  all  he  wanted  to  know  in  our  regard ; 
but  the  mention  of  "  Cappoquin "  as  my  native  place,  was  in  itself  sufficient 
to  gain  the  full  confidence  of  himself  and  comrades.  At  that  moment  a 
Carrick-Boatrnau  joined  the  group,  who  vouched  for  the  truth  of  my  state 
ment,  —  as  he  had  met  us  the  day  previous  in  Carrick  and  knew  our  story. 


218  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

Other    parties    soon    joined    us,    and    listened    eagerly    to    our    history    of    the 
past   six   days. 

They,  in  their  turn,  informed  us,  that  they  "knew  no  more  than  our 
selves,  of  where  Mr.  Meagher  was  at  that  time  —  the  last  they  had  heard 
of  him  being  the  day  he  was  in  Carrick  with  Smith  O'Brien.  They  were 
both  amazed  and  sorely  disappointed  at  not  having  received  any  orders  from 
him,  or  auy  instructions  whatsoever  as  to  what  was  to  be  the  duty  assigned 
to  the  men  of  Waterford  —  now  that  the  leaders  were  appealing  to  the  coun 
try.  They  felt  that,  in  this  emergency,  Meagher's  proper  place  was  at  the 
head  of  his  own  townsmen  —  the  men  who  knew  and  loved  him  best,  and 
of  whose  willingness  to  .  follow  him  to  death  he  had,  so  lately,  sufficient 
proof.  They  could  not,  and  would  not  believe  that  he  had  either  deserted 
them  or  mistrusted  their  devotion  to  himself  or  to  Ireland.  And  yet  —  where 
was  he  now?  or  why  did  he  leave  them  bewildered,  and  without  a  word  to 
signify  his  intentions  in  their  regard.  They  felt  there  was  something  wrong 

—  somewhere    in    their    midst — but    they   could    not    say  —  or  even  suspect  —  in 
what    quarter    the     spirit    of    mischief    was     secretly    working.      There    they 
were  — thousands    of    as    reliable    men    as    stood    on    Irish     ground  —  many    of 
of    them    fairly   armed— and    all    ready   to    fight    at    a  call ;  — moreover,    hun 
dreds    of    them    'marked    men'  —  liable    to    be    arrested    without    a    moment's 
notice;  —  there    they    were — waiting  —  still    "waiting"  —  every    hour    of    inac 
tion   increasing  their  anxiety   and    sapping  their  hopes:   no  competent  u?an    to 
take    their    absent    leader's    place,   and,    by   some  decisive    act,   put  an   end   to 
this   state   of  irresolution." 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  presented  to  us  by  the  true  men  ef  Water- 
ford.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  they  felt  it  would  be  a  welcome  relief  to  have 
it  ended  in  auy  way  —  even  by  those  black  ships  in  the  river  opening  tire 
on  their  native  city? 

Those  honest,  brave-hearted  patriots,  did  not  know  then,  (and  most  prob- 
atily.  never  learned  since,)  that,  but  three  nights  previous,  their  beloved 
young  leader,  trusting  in  their  truth  — as  he  did  in  his  own  resolute  heart 

—  had   come   in   person   into   the  city,    to    give   them   the   "Wouo"   they,  were 
so    anxiously    and    feverishly    waiting    for;     that    he    had    been    deceived,    and 
their    sacred    cause    betrayed,    by   a    few    pusillanimous   wretches  —  whose   faith 
he    depended   on  —  up    to    that    moment:    they   did    not   know  —  nor   could    liv 
ing    man    imagine  — the    feeling    of    utter    loneliness    and    desolation    of    heart 
with    which  he,    lor  the   last   time,    gazed,    through    the   gloom   of  night  upon 
the    spot    dearest   to   him   of    all   the  earth   while  the  crushing   thought  —  that 
those   he   most   confided   in   in   that   centre   of    his   faith,    hope,    and   love  —  had 


-FOLLOWING    THE  LEADER"  279 

abandoned  him  and  dishonored  their  city  —  wrapped  his  spirit  in  a  gloom 
far  darker  than  that  which  obscured  his  earthly  vision,  as  he  wended  on 
his  dreary  way  to  rejoin  his  compatriot.  O'Mahouy  —  alone  —  instead  of  being 
accompanied  by  "a  thousand  armed  men'"  —  as  he  had  confidently  hoped 
when  they  parted  a  few  hours  before. 

Well  it  was  for  the  lives  of  the  deceitful  knaves,  that  their  treachery 
was  unknown  to  their  betrayed  fellow-citizens,  who,  on  the  occasion  referred 
to,  seemed  anxious  to  vent  their  exasperation  on  any  assailable  object  of 
their  wrath.  Well,  also,  has  it  been  for  their  memories,  that,  with  a  mag 
nanimity  which,  became  his  noble  soul,  the  victim  of  their  baseness  refrained 
from  revealing  their  names  up  to  his  death  —  preferring  to  let  the  miscre 
ants  sink  into  charitable  oblivion,  than  to  have  their  city,  and  his,  disgraced 
by  its  association  with  such  infamous  creatures  —  and  their  innocent  descend 
ants —  through  successive  generations  —  compelled  to  blush  at  a  reference  to 
their  uuforgotten  and  uuforgiveu  crime. 

[NOTE.  —  It  was  bur.  natural  for  Mr.  Meagher  to  express  the  belief  to 
his  friend  O'Mahoay  that  Father  Tracy  was  blameless  in  this  matter :  for 
how  could  he.  on  the  mere  assertion  of  self  approved,  coivards  —  that — "Fathtr 
Tracy  could  not  be  found  at  that  time,"  —  condemn  any  man  in  whose  truth 
he  had,  hitherto,  implicitely  confided? 

This  shifting  the  responsibility  for  their  own  faithlessness  and  poltroon 
ery,  upon  one  whom  they  knew  could  not  possibly  refute  their  assertion  until 
too  late  to  counteract  its  evil  consequences  —  only  intensified  their  meanness 
—  as  pledge-breaking  cowards  —  and  Meagher's  contemptuous  disgust  lor  the 
sneaking  hypocrites.] 

We  spent  an  hour  or  so  viewing  the  city,  in  company  of  one  of  the 
Club-men  whose  acquaintance  we  had  made.  In  several  places  on  our  route 
we  observed— on  green  posters  —  Mejgher's  latest  address  to  his  fellow- 
citizens,  calling  on  them  to  is  Keep  the  anns  in  their  possession  —  and  go  on 
arming,"  &c.  In  almost  every  instance,  this  appeal  was  posted  either  over 
•  •Clarendon's  Proclamation,"  or  in  close  proximity  thereto.  Its  sight  now  — 
ten  days  after  it^  first  appearance  —  gave  rise  to  mingled  feelings  of  pride 
and  perplexity  —  on  the  writer's  account.  On  the  whole,  matters  looked 
rather  discouraging  for  the  object  of  our  visit  to  Waterford.  It  was  evident 
we  would  obtain  no  tidings  there,  either  of  Mr.  Meagher  or  any  other 
prominent  Confederate  known  to  us. 

We  returned  to  the  vicinity  of  the  Bridge,  with  the  intention  of  there 
awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  Dublin  mail-coach  —  due  at  4  o'clock.  It  came. 


280  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 


crowded  with  passengers  —  inside  and  out.  Among  the  latter  we  recognized 
Mr.  Edward  Holly  wood  —  and  the  recognition  was  mutual  —  :i  fortunate  cir 
cumstance  for  him — as  it  subsequently  appeared.  Mr.  Hollywood  was  a 
prominent  silk-weaver  as  well  as  patriot;  and  as  an  incentive  to  patriotism, 
and  the  encouragement  of  native  manufactures,  he  produced  a  neck-kerchief 
of  green  silk  —  with  an  orange  border.  As  an  emblem  of  the  union  of 
'•Orange  and  Green!"  the  article  soon  became  popular  with  the  Confeder 
ates  in  Dublin,  and  throughout  the  country;  and,  as  its  originator  was  a 
tnan  who  consistently  stood  by  his  colors,  he  made  his  appearance  in  the 
"proclaimed  city  of  Water  ford,"  with  the  insignia  of  ki  United  Irishmen'' 
fluttering  in  the  bronze,  as  the  coach  whirled  rapidly  down  the  Quay.  He 
had  no  doubt  of  his  neck-gear  attracting  some  suspicion  to  himself,  but,  on 
principle,  he  braved  the  risk  and  took  his  chances.  But  the  risk  came  ;rom 
a  different  quarter  than  where  he  surmised  it  would,  and  his  chances  of 
being  drowned,  (for  a  while,)  far  out-weighed  those  tending  in  an  opposite 
direction.  For,  as  it  so  happened,  our  good  Waterford  "rebels"  being  in  a 
very  dangerous  mood,  suspected  Mr.  Hollywood  to  be  a  Castle  spy  masque 
rading  in  national  colors,  and  some  of  them  followed  him  to  the  coach- 
office,  determined  to  watch  his  movements,  and  —  if  these  were  such  as  to 
confirm  their  suspicions  —  to  pitch  him  incontinently  into  the  Suir— ia  full 
view  of  the  British  men-of-war. 

Poor  Mr.  Hollywood,  unsuspicious  of  danger  from  such  a  quarter,  imme 
diately  on  alighting  from  his  lofty  perch  —  hurried  back  to  where  he  had 
seen  our  familiar  faces,  but  he  was  quickly  followed  and  soon  surrounded 
by  a  half-dozen  fierce-looking  fellows,  one  of  whom  peremptorily  asked  him 
"What  was  his  business  in  Waterford?"  and  also,  "Why  he  wore  those 
colors?"  —  adding  sarcastically  —  "  as  if  they  could  deceive  any  one!" 

Hollywood,  seeing  at  once  who  his  interlocutois  were,  and  thar,  in  his 
case  "honesty  was  the  best  policy,''  told  them  that  he  came  from  Dublin; 
that  his  business  in  Waterford  was  to  look  for  Mr.  Meagher  —  who  was  a 
personal  friend  of  his;  and  that  he  wore  the  neck-kerchief  because  he  had 
a  good  right  to  do  so  —  having  made  it.  He  then  told  them  his  name. 
They  '-had  heard  of  it, —  but  how  were  they  to  know  that  he  wasn't  some 
Castle  detective  who  assumed  it  to  cloak  his  villainy?  Was  there  any  one 
in  Waterford  who  knew  him,  and  could  confirm  his  statement?  —  for,  if  there 
wasn't 

Hollywood  half-amused,  and  half-alarmed,  did  not  wait  to  hear  the  threat 
ening  alternative  —  but  eagerly  informed  his  "good  friends"  :hat,  as  luck 


'•  FOLLOWING    THE  LEADER."  281 

had  it.  he  saw  three  men  at  the  upper  end  of  the  Quay  who  could  vouch 
for  his  honesty. 

Thereupon,  he  was  permitted  to  go  on  his  way  a  few  paces  in  advance 
of  his  vigileut  escort,  until  he  met  us  going  towards  the  coach-office  to  see 
and  compare  notes  with  him.  After  our  cordial  greeting,  he  briefly  related 
his  exciting  experience  of  the  past  ten  minutes  —  adding,  quite  seriously,  "I 
really  expected  the  fellows  would  pitch  me  over  the  Quay ! " 

We  admitted  there  was  some  grounds  for  his  supposition  —  but  that  we\. 
set  matters  right  in  a  minute.  Thereupon  I  walked  over  to  where  his  late 
escort,  joined  by  another  group,  were  watching  our  proceedings.  One  of 
the  men  asked  me  if  I  knew  that  man  who  just  joined  us?  I  told  him  I  did; 
that  he  was  Edward  Hollywood,  Mr.  Meagher's  fellow-delegate  to  Paris ! 
With  a  sigh  of  relief,  he  remarked :  "  Oh !  how  glad  I  am ;  we  took  him 
for  a  detective  looking  for  Meagher,  and  came  very  near  flinging  him  into 
the  river ! " 

The  whole  crowd  then  advanced  to  where  Mr.  Hollywood  stood,  and 
soon  convinced  him  that  he  was  among  men  after  his  own  heart. 

Before  our  parting,  Mr.  Hollywood  signified  his  intention  of  seeking 
O'Brien  and  Meagher  in  the  district  between  Carrick  and  Cashel.*  I  do  not 
think  he  succeeded  in  finding  them;  for,  after  the  affair  at  Balliugarry — (on 
that  same  day") — their  movements  became  more  uncertain  than  ever  before. 

For  our  ow~  part,  the  futile  result  of  our  journey  to  Waterford  left  us 
uncertain  as  to  where  we  should  next  turn.  An  accident  decided  that  ques 
tion.  Among  those  we  met  on  the  Quay  was  a  young  man  from  Xew-Ross, 
named  O'Byrne.  who  was  a  member  of  the  "Art  MacMorrough  Club"  of 
that  town.  His  father  and  himself  owned  a  lighter,  in  which  thev  were 
about  returning  home  that  evening,  and  he  invited  us  to  take  passage  with 
them.  As  there  might  be  a  possible  chance  of  some  one  of  the  leaders 
selecting  that  good  old  u  rebel  stronghold  •'  as  the  sphere  of  his  operations, 
we  decided  to  accept  the  invitation,  and,  bidding  good-bye  to  the  rest  of 
our  friends,  we  accompanied  Mr.  O'Byrne  to  his  boat,  where  he  introduced 
us  to  his  father,  who  gave  us  a  hearty  welcome.  lie  was  a  genuine  scion 


*  NOTE. —  After  the  failure  of  the  Insurrectionary  movement,  Mr.  Hollywood  effectee  his 
escape  to  France,  where,  with  his  family,  he  continued  to  reside  for  some  years.  After 
his  wife's  death,  he  retumed  to  Dublin,  and  officiated  as  one  of  the  chief  mourners  at 
MacManus's  lu:ieral  in  that  city,  in  November,  1861.  Some  years  later  he  died  in  Dublin, 
ann  was  burled  In  Giasucvia  cemetery.  His  funeral  was  numerously  attended  by  his  sur 
viving  comrades  of  '48.  Ills  grave  lies  within  a  few  yards  of  the  main  entrance  to  the 
cemetery. 


2S2  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGIIER. 

of  the  old  Wieklow  stock,  and  hated  the  foreign  interlopers  as  intensely  as 
Feogh  MacHugh  himself  did.  When  I  told  him  that  one  of  the  Dublin  clubs 
was  named  after  the  "Ninety-eight"  hero  —  "Billy  Byrne  of  Ballymanus,'' 
his  countenance  lit  up  with  the  pride  of  his  brave  old  race,  and  turning  to 
his  stalwart  son,  he  exclaimed  —  "See  that,  now!  How  they  didn't  forget 
the  ould  stock?*' 

On  our  way  up  the  Barrow,  young  Mr.  O'Byrne  directed  our  attention  to 
a  narrow  part  of  the  river  whore  a  rocky  headland  projected  into  the  chan 
nel.  He  told  us  the  promontory  was  called  "Lady's  Eock!"  and  that  the 
men  of  Eoss  had  decided  to  sink  a  lighter  —  loaded  with  lime-stone  —  at  that 
spot  —  v;hen  they  got  the,  '•'Word.'"  so  as  to  obstruct,  the  channel,  and  prevent 
the  men-of-war  at  Waterford  from  reaching  their  town.  As  it  was  almost 
night  by  this  time,  and  threatening  to  rain,  our  kind  host  prevailed  on  us 
to  occupy  their  bed  in  the  little  cabin.  We  had-  a  sound  sleep,  and  did  not 
wake  "til  we  felt  the  boat  bumping  against  the  quay  of  Boss,  on  Sunday 
morning. 

As  we  declined  the  Messrs.  O'Byrne's  invitation  to  take  breakfast  at 
their  house,  the  young  man  accompanied  us  to  a  lodginsr-house.  After  break 
fasting  we  went  to  mass,  after  which,  and  during  the  course  of  the  day, 
we  met  several  club-men,  —  all  as  anxious  as  ourselves,  and  all  as  ignorant 
of  the  whereabouts  of  those  we  wrere  in  search  of.  It  was  certain,  how 
ever,  that  none  of  the  Confederate  leaders  had  come  to  Eoss.  Still  we  did 
not  regret  our  coming  thither,  for  it  was  a  place  of  historic  associations, 
of  which  Irishmen  might  well  feel  proud;  and  the  glorious  scenery  at  the 
junction  of  the  Elvers  Nore  and  Barrow  —  about  a  mile  above  the  town,  was, 
in  itself,  worth  going  a  day's  journey  to  view,  at  any  time,  but  under  the 
circumstances,  we  enjoyed  the  magnificent  prospect  in  an  intensified  degree; 
for  it  imparted  a  portion  of  its  brightness  to  our  spirits,  and  enabled  us 
to  bear  up  all  the  more  cheerfully  under  our  recent  disappointments,  and 
face  the  uncertainties  of  the  future  wilh  a  more  trustful  confidence  than 
our  present  position  would  seem  to  warrant. 

On  our  way  back  to  Boss,  we  decided  that,  owing  to  the  low  state  of 
our  finances,  it  was  impossible  for  us  to  continue  our  search  any  further; 
and  that  therefore,  it  was  auvisable  that  we  should  part  company  next  day 
—  my  two  comiades  to  remain  in  Eoss  —  where  they  could  abide  quietly  and 
get  work  at  their  trade, — and  I  to  return  to  the  vicinity  of  my  home,  and 
there,  for  a  while,  await  the  course  of  events,  —  I  taking  their  address,  so 
that,  should  circumstances  so  warrant,  I  could  notify  them  to  rejoin  me. 

In    accordance    with    this    plan    I  took  the   steamer  from   Waterford   next 


"FOLLOWING    THE   LEADER."  283 

morning.  I  left  that  city  at  noon  and  proceeded  to  Cappoquin  on  foot, 
arriving  there  at  9  r.  M..  when,  for  the  first  time,  I  learned  what  occurred 
at  Ballingarry  on  the  previous  Saturday. 

[XoxE.  —  A  few  words  relative  to  the  subsequent  career  of  my  two 
faithlul  comrades  may  be  recorded  here ; 

BOB.    WARD, 

I  never  saw  since  our  parting  in  Xew  Ross.  After  remaining  in  that  town 
for  some  months,  he  returned  to  Dublin,  but  Jound  it  impossible  to  abide  there 
during  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act.  —  as  his  person  was  kuown 
to  nearly  all  the  detectives  in  the  city.  He  remained  in  the  country,  how 
ever,  for  about  two  years  after,  when  he  emigrated  to  America,  and  resided 
for  several  years  in  Baltimore,  where  he  was  known  to  his  fellow-exiles  as 
an  uncompromising  Irish  Nationalist  of  the  most  extreme  type.  From  Bal 
timore  he  removed  "out  West."  where  —  as  I  learned  from  an  acquaintance 
of  his  —  he  died.  I  did  not  learn  the  date  of  his  death,  but  think  it  must 
be  before  John  O'Mahony  founded  the  Fenian  Brotherhood,  as,  if  my  old  com 
rade  was  living  during  the  existance  of  that  organization,  I  would  certainly 
hear  from  him. 

DAX   MAGRATH'S 

Efforts  in  the  Irish  Revolutionary  cause  did  not  cease  on  the  failure  of  the 
'48  movement.  He  did  not  believe  the  people  wrere  given  a  fair  trial  then,  and 
so,  when,  in  the  next  year,  a  secret  revolutionary  organization  was  started 
to  continue  the  struggle,  he  became  one  of  its  most  active  propagandists  in 
the  county  of  Waterford.  At  the  time  appointed  for  a  general  simultaneous 
"rising"  —  September  16th,  1849.  Cappoquin  (alone)  responded.  For  the  part 
Dan.  played  on  that  occasion  he  was  honored  —  in  company  with  two  others 
—  with  a  place  in  Her  Majesty's  '''•Hue  and  Cry,"  and  a  reward  of  £100 
each,  offered  for  their  capture, — but  in  vain;  for,  after  months  of  weary 
wanderings,  the  three  prosciibed  rebels  succeeded  in  reaching  Xew  York, 
only  to  re-commence  their  labors  in  the  good  cause  of  fatherland. 

As  a  first  step  they  joined  an  Irish  military  organization,  and  so  learned 
to  perform  a  man's  part  more  effectually  when  the  next  opportunity  came 
for  striking  a  blow  for  Irish  liberty. 

During  Dan's  residence  in  Xew  York  he  became  affiliated  with  the  suc 
cessive  Irish  Revolutionary  movements  set  on  foot  in  that  city.  About  1858 
he  moved  to  Missouri,  where  he  prospered  in  business,  got  married,  and 
raised  a  large  family. 


284  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

He  was  an  early  member  of  the  Fenian  Brotherhood,  and  continued  an 
enthusiastic  aid  devoted  friend  of  John  O'Mahony  up  10  that  gentleman's 
death.  From  that  period  until  his  own  death  — on  Christmas  Eve.  1888  —  Dan 
lent  a  generous  support  to  every  organization,  whether  'Revolutionary''  or 
"Constitutional,"  having  for  its  avowed  object  the  attainment  of  Iris'u  liberty 
—  and,  after  serving  faithfully  for  forty  years  the  old  cause  in  which,  as  a 
boy  he  enlisted  in  1848,  he  died  as  he  lived  —  an  honest  man,  and  consistent 
patriot,  leaving  in  his  career  an  incentive  and  an  inspiration  to  the  young 
men  of  his  race  who  are  imbued  with  a  spirit  of  devotion  to  Ireland's  free 
dom,  which  constituted  the  main-spring  of  his  existence. 

His  remains  rest  in  the  Catholic  cemetery  of  Marshall,  Mo.  Would  that 
they  lay  with  his  kin  — in  "Green  Affane,"  or  "Grey  Lismore!" 


CHAPTER    XLVII. 


THE  FAILURE  —  AND   ITS   ALLEGED   CAUSES. 

"It  little  matters  why  we  fell, 
If  \\e  arise  to-morrow." 

JOHN  KEEGAN. 

THE  failure  of  the  '48  movement  in  Ireland  has  been  attributed  to  vari 
ous  causes,  both  by  the  several  writers  on  the  subject  who  participated 
therein,  and  by  others  who  had  no  personal  knowledge  of  the  facts.  Some, 
(of  the  latter  class  especially)  have  sought  to  throw  the  blame  on  the  people 
—  who,  they  assert  —  failed  to  respond  to  the  call  of  their  leaders ;  others 
attribute  the  result  to  the  hostile  attitude  of  the  priests.  These  statements 
are  both  erroneous  and  unjust,  yet  they  have  been  so  often  reiterated  that 
they  have  been  accepted  as  facts  by  very  many  of  our  own  race,  as  well 
as  by  the  world  at  large.  Before  proceeding  to  refute  them  on  my  own 
responsibility  I  shall  quote  Mr.  Meagher's  opinions  on  the  subject. 

In  a  letter  written  from  Van  Dieman's  laud  in  February,  1850,  and  sent 
to  Mr.  Duffy  for  publication  in  the  Nation,  Mr.  Meagher  says :  — 

"The    defeat    of    1848    was    not    the    defeat    of    a    whole    people.     It    was 


THE  FAILURE— AND  ITS  ALLEGED    CAUSES.  285 

nothing  more  than  the  rout  of  a  few  peasants,  hastily  collected,  badly 
armed,  half-starved,  and  miserably  clad. 

"  The  country  did  not  turn  out.  The  country  was  not  beaten,  therefore. 
And  hence  it  should  neither  be  disheartened  nor  ashamed. 

"  Why  a  more  general  movement  did  not  take  place,  I  have  no  time  at 
present  to  explain.  There  were  many  reasons  for  it;  and  as  I  intend  to 
write  a  little  narrative  of  what  occurred  in  Tipperary  during  the  period  to 
which  I  allude,  you  shall  have  them  at  some  future  day. 

'*  I  feel,  however,  it  would  not  be  candid  of  me  to  conceal  the  opinion 
I  have  frequently  stated  in  private,  that  we  who  went  to  Tipperary  did  not 
put  the  question  properly  to  the  country  —  did  not  give  the  country  a  fair 
opportunity — did  not  adopt  anything  like  the  best  means  for  evoking  the 
heroism  of  the  people,  and  bringing  it  into  action. 

"  I  owe  it  to  people  to  make  this  avowal.  It  pains  me  to  reflect  that 
such  an  avowal  has  been  so  long  withheld,  and  that  in  the  absence  of  it 
they  have  been  charged  with  cowardice  and  desertion. 

"There  is  another  slander,  too  —  a  slander  no  less  unjust  and  scanda1- 
ous  than  the  one  I  have  this  moment  mentioned  —  which  I  feel  bound  also 
to  refute. 

"Since    the    affair    at    Ballingarry,    it    has    been    repeatedly    rung    in    our 

ears  —  'The   priests   betrayed   you!' 

% 
"The    priests  did  not    betray   us.     Asa  body    they   were    opposed   to   us  — 

actively  and  determinedly  opposed  to  us  —  from  the  day  of  the  Secession 
down  to  very  day  on  which  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  was 
announced  by  express  in  Dublin.  In  not  joining  us,  therefore,  in  the  field 
—  in  not  exhorting  the  people  to  take  up  arms  —  nay,  in  setting  themselves 
against  the  few  who  rallied  around  us,  and  warning  them  to  their  home?  — 
in  all  this  they  did  not  not  act  treacherously ;  they  acted  simply  with  strict 
consistency. 

"  I  do  not.  of  course,  applaud  them  for  the  part  they  acted.  With  the 
belief  that  is  rooted  in  my  mind  I  could  not  do  so.  For  I  firmly  believe 
that,  had  the  Catholic  priests  of  Ireland  preached  the  revolution  from  th*  ir 
altars  —  had  they  gone  out,  like  the  Sicilian  priests,  or  the  Archbishop  (if 
Milan,  and  borne  the  Cross  in  front  of  the  insurgent  ranks  —  had  this  been 
the  case,  I  firmly  believe  there  would  have  been  a  young  Nation,  crowned 
with  glory,  standing  proudly  up  by  the  side  of  England  at  this  hour." 

Whatever  were  the  opinions  entertained  by  honest  and  intelligent  men 
as  to  the  various  auxiliary  causes  of  the  failure,  there  can  be  no  reasonable 


286  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

doubt  that  the  main  cause  was  owing  to  the  absence  of  preliminary  organ 
ization  among  the  people  selected  by  the  leaders  to  inaugurate  the  insur 
rection,  and  to  the  utter  lack  of  military  knowledge  amongst  those  leaders 
themselves. 

Those  leaders,  for  reasons  supposed  by  them  to  be  all  sufficient,  declined 
to  avail  themselves  of  the  organized  strength  of  the  metropolis;  they  made 
no  demand  on  the  ten  thousand  club-men  that  Mr.  O'Brien  stated  were  ready 
at  their  call  in  Cork ;  they  lacked  the  decision  of  character  to  avail  them 
selves  of  the  glorious  opportunity  afforded  them  by  the  organized  clubs  of 
Carrick  and  its  vicinity,  and  took  their  chances  among  a  peasantry  without 
arms  or  a  commissariat,  and  they  were  unable  to  suggest  how  these  indis 
pensable  requisites  to  a  successful  revolt  could  be  supplied. 

Some  of  the  priests  had  openly  opposed  the  movement,  and  all  but 
anathematized  its  leaders;  a  few  more,  whose  antecedents  led  the  people  to 
expect  their  active  cooperation,  shrank  from  the  crucial  test  of  patriotism, 

—  and    the    unnaturally  hostile    attitude    assumed    by   those  few   selfish  extra- 
loyal    clergymen   of    the  first    mentioned   cla-s,   and   the  desertion  of  the   still 
fewer    presumed    friends    of    the  cause,   was,   erroneously   taken   as   being  rep 
resentative    of    the    animus    of    the    priests   in   general,   and  this  disheartening 
reflection    threw    a    damper    on    the    desperate    but    ill-directed    efforts    of    the 
chivalrous    and    devoted   gentlemen,    who,    in   their   enthusiasm   for   liberty   and 
love    lor    their    country   and    its    oppre?sed    people,    had    undertaken   a  project 
which  they  had   neither  the  material   means   nor  the  scientific  ability  to  carry 
out    successfully,    though    they  never    encountered  a  word  of  opposition   from 
any  of  the  popular  partv,   clerical  or  lay. 

A  few  words  more  as  to  the  action  of  the  priests  in  '48.  It  was  well 
known  to  the  people  of  Tipperary  and  Waterford  thai,  in  the  course  of  the 
summer  of  that  year,  many  of  them  advised  the  people  — from  their  altars 

—  to  prepare  for  the  "coming   time,"  while  the  majority  contented  themselves 
with    encouraging    the    people   privately,    or  remaining  silent  altogether,   espe 
cially  after  their  bishop  enjoined   silence  on    such  subjects,   under  penalty   of 
suspension.      It    was    unreasonable    to    expect    that    priests    would    go    openly 
and  preach  insurrection,  at  a  time  when  few,  if  any,  of  them  knew  what  were 
the    plans    of  the    leaders,   or    whether    they   could    serve  or  injure  the  cause 
by  so  doing. 

I  know  most  of  what  I  here  state  from  actual  observation  at  the  time. 
I  believe  also,  that  had  a  general  "call  to  arms"  been  made,  and  that  but 
one  priest  in  twenty  responded  thereto,  the  great  majority  of  their  flocks 


THE  FAILURE -A\D   ITS  ALLEGED    CAUSES.  287 

would    pay   little  hetd   to  the  prayers  —  or  curses   of  the  nineteen,  but   would 

follow    the   true   one,  —  and   their   own   convictions. 

/ 
But   why  expect   priests   to  fight   at   all?    "W  ould   they  not   find  other  more 

congenial  means  of  serving  the  revolutionary  cause  than  by  assuming  a 
position  they  wtre  unqualified  for,  —  that  of  leading  men  to  battle  —  where 
one  skilled  soldier  would  be  worth  a  dozen  ordinary  enthusiasts?* 

As  to  the  charge  brought  by  some  parties  against  the  Minister  peasantry. 
—  that  of  having  by  their  apathy  in  supporting  O'Brien  contributed  mainly 
to  the  failure  of  '48.  I,  as  one  personally  cognizant  of  the  circumstances, 
point  to  the  indisputable  historical  fact  that,  in  the  very  district  in  which 
Mr.  O'Brien  and  his  Confederate  leaders  despaired  of  inaugurating  an  insurrec 
tion  in  July  of  that  year,  in  which  the  '•  Arms  Act"  was  in  constant  oper 
ation,  and  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  was  suspended;  —  in  which  the  famine 
and  extermination  had  left  their  gloomiest  traces;  in  which  the  priests  were 
most  inimical  to  the  movement;  in  which  the  government  forces  —  soldiers, 
spies  and  peelers,  Lad  been  steadily  augmented  —  here  —  in  this  ''Valley  of 
the  Suir,"  two  months  later,  when  these  distinguished  leaders  were  either 
inmates  of  a  prison  awaiting  their  trial  for  high  treason — or  hunted  fugi 
tives  with  a  price  set  on  their  heads,  —  this  traduced  peasantry  —  at  the  call 
of  a  man  who  was  neither  a  distinguished  statesman,  an  eloquent  orator, 
or  a  brilliant  writer  of  political  articles,  or  soul-stirring  lyrics,  —  (and  con- 


*The  position  of  the  generality  of  the  Catholic  clergy  of  South  Tipperary  and  Water 
ford  In  184*,  was  graphically  explained  in  my  presence  by  the  Reveiend  Father  Heffernan, 
the  patriotic  Pariah  Priest  of  C.erihan  and  Rosegreen.  It  was  in  a  discouise  addressed  to 
his  flock  in  the  chapel  of  Rosegr<eu,  and  on  the  Sunday  previous  to  the  opening  of  the 
State  Trials  in  Cloumel.  The  country  was  in  a  very  disturbed  condition  just  then  —  for 
John  u'Mahony  was  muster' ng  the  peasantry  of  the  Valley  of  the  Suir  on  the  spurs  of 
the  Conimeraghs,  and  parties  In  s  arch  of  fire-arms  were  scouring  the  country  nightly.  In 
allucini?  to  this  latter  circumstance  the  good  old  priest  cautioned  his  flock  not  to  be  mis 
led  by  the  extravagant  reports  lu  circulation- 

"Do  you  know  what  some  of  the  foo's  say?"  he  remarked  with  a  comical  expres 
sion  on  bis  plea*ant  lace.  "  Why,  that  Father  Hefferuan  is  going  to  lead  'em!  Wouldn't 
1  'ook  well,  the  like  of  me  of  an  old  man,  trudging  along  with  a  pike  on  my  sboulder? 
No,  my  boys!  Father  Htffctnan  will  do  no  such  thing!  And  I'll  tell  you  why  he  won't. 
Btcause  Father  Heffernan  — and  every  other  'Father'  who  was  ordained  in  Maynootu  had 
to  take  the  'oath  of  allegiance!'  Now,  Father  Heffjrnan  is  not  going  to  break  that  oath, 
by  appearing  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  'icbels!'  But  if  he  don't  there's  another  thing 
he  won't  do  either!  —  Father  Heffernan  won't  lift  a  hand  or  a  leg,  or  give  one  wag  of  bis 
tongue  to  saye  the  tyrants  who  oppress  his  people  from  getting  what  their  crimes  deservt. 
That's  what  Father  IKffeman  won't  do." 


288  MEMOIES   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEB. 

sequently  unknown  except  to  the  people  among  whom  he  lived,  and  by  whom 
he  was  beloved  and  looked  up  to,)  —  organized  silently,  armed  themselves 
with  such  rude  weapons  as  their  way-side  forges  could  supply,  and  depend 
ing  on  the  neighboring  farmers  for  provisions,  abandoned  home  and  famity, 
and  took  to  the  hill-side?  to  prove  their  devotion  to  Liberty  and  Ireland.  Well 
has  Thomas  Davis  said  :  — 

"  The  heart  of  the  people  Is  always  right." 

And  if  John  CTMahony  effected  nothing  with  that  formidable  physical  po\v*r 
which  he,  who  knew  the  heart  of  the  people,  had  succeeded  in  evoking,  it  was 
because  he  too,  accomplished  gentleman  and  erudite  scholar  as  he  was,  had 
not  then,  owing  to  lack  of  opportunity, 

"  Trained  his  soul  to  lead  a  line." 

Had  but  one-fourth  of  that  gallant  band  of  Irish  veterans  who,  under 
his  direction  returned  to  their  native  land  in  '65,  been  with  him  in  '48  on 
the  slopes  of  the  Commeraghs,  there  would  have  been  a  different  tale  to 
tell  of  that  "  September  rising." 


CHAPTER   XLVIII. 


THE   PENALTY  OF  PATRIOTISM. 

'Gainst  England  \on«  battlirg,  at  length  they  went  down; 

As  truagb  gan  oidhlr  'n-a  bh-farradh! 
But  they  left  tneir  deep  tracks  on  the  road  of  renown; 

As  truagh  gan  oidhir  'n-a  bh-farradh! 

THOMAS  DAVIS. 

WHEN,  after  his  disappointment  in  Waterford,  Meagher  re-joined  O'M.i- 
hony,  the  latter  proposed  to  have  him  take  command  of  the  clubs  on  the 
county  Waterford  side  of  the  Suir,  while  he  himself  would  cooperate  with 


THE  PENALTY    OF  PATRIOTISM.  289 

him  at  the  head  of  the  Tipperary  men  in  the  district  between  Carrick  and 
Sliabh-na-mon.  But.  though  assured  that  the  men  of  his  native  county  would 
follow  him  enthusiastically,  Meagher  declined  to  assume  any  independent 
command  whatsoever  —  preferring  to  join  O'Brien  and  share  his  fortunes  — 
gloomy  and  disheartening  as  he  felt  them  to  be. 

It  is  unnecessary,  on  the  present  occasion,  to  detail  the  desultory  and 
unimportant  movements  of  the  bewildered  insurrectionary  leaders  during  the 
brief  time  they  remained  in  company;  suffice  it  to  say  that,  finding  it  im 
possible  to  carry  out  their  intentions,  they  finally  separated,  some  to  escape 
across  the  seas,  and  others  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Among 
the  former  were  Dillon,  Doheny,  Reilly,  Stevens,  Cant  well,  Smith,  Hollywood, 
and  other  prominent  Confederates.  Smith  O'Brien,  Meagher,  O'Douoghoe,  Leyne 
and  MacManus,  were  arrested  and  lodged  in  prison  to  await  their  trial  on  a 
charge  of  High  Treason.  O'Mahony,  alone,  held  his  ground — trusting  in  the 
fidelity  of  the  people,  and  awaiting  another  opportunity  to  test  their  courage. 
He,  too,  was  eventually  forced  to  abandon  the  struggle  for  a  time,  but  not  until 
he  had  done  enough  to  vindicate  his  opinion  of  the  people's  manhood,  and 
their  unswerving  fidelity  to  those  whom  they  knew  and  trusted  —  and  who 
knew  and  trusted  them. 

Mr.  O'Brien  was  arrested  in  Thurles,  on  the  5th  of  August,  Messrs. 
Meagher,  O'Donoghoe,  and  Leyne,  near  Rathgaunon,  on  the  12th,  and  Mr. 
MacManus,  on  board  an  American  ship,  the  N.  D.  Chase,  in  the  Cove  of 
Cork,  on  the  30th  of  that  month.  All  these  gentlemen  were,  immediately 
after  their  arrest,  conveyed  to  Kilmainham  prison,  Dublin. 

THE  PRISONERS  REMOVED  TO   CLONMEL. 

On  the  18th  of  September,  the  state  prisoners  were  conveyed  by  the 
Great  Southern  and  Western  Railway  to  Thurles,  and  from  thence  by  coach, 
to  Cionmel,  where  they  were  to  be  tried  before  a  "  Special  Commission," 
which  was  to  open  on  the  21st.  It  was  a  gloomy  prospect  they  had  to 
look  forward  to,  yet  it  was  powerless  to  affect  their  indomitable  resolution 
in  the  least.  O'Brien  maintained  his  usual  cheerfulness  and  calm  dignity  of 
manner,  O'Donoghoe  his  characteristic  blutitness  and  contemptuous  defiance 
of  the  British  Queen  and  constitution,  while  the  irrepressible  spirit  of  fun 
kept  possession  of  the  exuberant  hearts  of  the  three  younger  members  of 
the  party.  Indeed,  one  of  the  most  racy  and  side-splitting  stories  I  ever 
heard  Meagher  relate,  was  founded  upon  some  humorous  incidents  of  the 
journey  from  Thurles  to  Cionmel  that  frosty  September  morning. 

19 


290  MEMOIES  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEB. 

THE   TRIALS. 

Mr.    Smith  O'Brien's  trial   was   the  first    called.      It  opened  on   September 
28th   before  the  following  carefully   selected  jury : 
Eichard  II.  J.  Manseragh,  of  Greuaue,  Samuel  Perry,   of  Barrona, 

foreman,  John   Russell,    of  Ballydavid, 

Edward   C.    Moore,   of  Mooresfort,  Edward  Pennfetder,   of    Marlow, 

Eichard   Gasou,   of  Eichmond,  Thomas   Sadler,    of   Balliugarry, 

John    Going,    of  Birdhill,  John   Tuthill,   of  Eaplank, 

John   Lloyd,   of  Lisburne,  Eichard   Manser,    of  Gralla, 

Charles   Going  of  Castle   Crana. 

Tot  a  Milesian  name  on  the  list  —  all  of  the  Cromwellian  stock.  The 
farce  of  a  trial  proceeded  before  that  jury  for  nine  days.  It  needed  not  nine 
minutes  to  make  up  their  minds  for  a  conviction. 

When  on  the  third  day  after  the  verdict  of  "  GUILTY  "  was  rendered, 
the  prisoner  \t  as  asked  what  he  had  to  say  why  sentence  should  not  be 

passed    on    him.? Mr.    O'Brien,   in    a  calm    and    firm    voice,    addressing   the 

court.   &?.id:  — 

O'BRIEN'S   SPEECH    FROM    THE   DOCK. 

"  My  lords,  it  is  not  my  intention  to  enter  into  any  vindication  of  my  con 
duct,  however  much  I  might  have  desired  to  avail  myself  of  this  opportu 
nity  of  doing  so.  I  am  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  consciousness  that  I  ha\  e 
performed  my  duty  to  my  country ;  that  I  have  done  only  that  which,  in 
my  opinion,  it  was  the  duty  of  every  Irishman  to  have  done;  and  I  am 
prepared  to  ahide  the  consequences  of  having  performed  my  duty  to  my 
native  land.  Proceed  with  your  sentence." 

Chief  Justice  Blackburne  then   pronounced  the  following   sentence:-— 

"The  Sentence  is  that  You,  William  Smith  O'Brien,  be  taken 
from  hence  to  the  place  from  ichence  you  came,  and  be  thence  Drawn 
on  a  Hurdle  to  the  Place  of  Execution,  and  be  there  Hanged  by 
the  Neck  until  you  are  Dead;  and  that  afterwards  your  Head  shall 
be  Severed  from  Your  Body,  and  Your  Body  Divided  into  Four 
Quarters,  to  be  disposed  of  as  Her  Majesty  shall  think  Jit,  and 
may  God  have  mercy  on  your  soul. 

Immediately  after  O'Brien's  sentence,  MacManus  was  put  on  trial  —  with 
the  same  result. 


THE  PENALTY   OF  PATRIOTISM.  291 

Then   came   the  trial   of  Patrick   O'Donohoe  —  before   a  jury   of  ultra-loyal 
Protestants.     As  a  matter  of  course,    he,   too,   was  found   guilty. 
Maurice  R.   Leyne  was  not    brought  to   trial. 

TRIAL   OF  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER, 
OCTOBER   16xii-23D,   1848. 

On  Monday.  October  16.  Clonmel  Courthouse  was  crowded  to  its  utmost 
capacity,  while  the  streets  in  its  vicinity  were  densely  thronged  with  the 
people  of  both  town  and  country.  It  was  the  day  selected  for  the  opening 
of  Meagher's  trial. 

The   local  papers   thus    describe  the   scene  in   the  Court-house: 

"  All  eyes  were  turned  to  the  dock  to  catch  the  first  glance  of  the 
celebrated  and  single-minded  young  patriot,  whose  love  of  country  had  placed 
his  liberty  or  his  life  at  the  mercy  of  others.  His  app>  arance  and  manner 
were  not  unworthy  of  him.  They  fully  equalled  in  firmness,  dignity  and 
composure,  those  of  the  men  who  preceded  him  at  the  bar,  charged  with 
the  same  offence. 

"  He  cast  a  quiet  and  dignified  glance  round  the  crowded  court,  and 
deported  himself  with  as  much  ease  and  composure  in  the  felon's  dock  as 
if  he  were  enjoying  the  society  of  his  friends,  instead  of  being  a  state  pris 
oner  on  trial  for  his  life. 

"Mr.  Meagher  was  dressed  in  accordance  with  his  usual  neatness  and 
good  taste.  He  wore  a  plain  black  frock-coat,  black  silk  stock  and  light 
colored  waistcoat,  and  on  his  finger  a  large  gold  ring,  in  which  was  set 
an  accurate  and  beautiful  miniature  of  his  friend  John  Mitchel. 

"The  prisoner  having  been  called  on  to  plead  —  in  a  clear  and  firm  voice 
replied  —  '  NOT  GUILTY.' 

"Mr.  Meagher  then  addressed  the  court  from  the  dock,  in  the  follow 
ing  terms :  — 

MEAGHER'S  PROTEST  AGAINST  JUsRY  PACKING. 

"  '  My  lords,  previous  to  the  jury  being  sworn,  I  respectfully  beg  leave 
to  say  a  few  words.  I  desire  to  protest  against  the  construction  of  the 
panel  from  which  the  jury  by  which  I  am  to  be  tried  has  been  selected. 
Personally,  I  care  not  whether  I  am  to  be  tried  by  Protestants  or  by  Ro 
man  Catholics.  Though  I  am  myself  a  Roman  Catholic,  I  feel  that  my 
cause,  my  honor,  my  liberty,  my  life,  are  as  safe  in  the  hands  of  a  jury 


292  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

composed  exclusively  of  Protestants,  as  they  would  be  with  a  jury  composed 
exclusively  of  Roman  Catholics.  Were  I.  indeed,  to  consult  my  own  feel 
ings,  I  would  not  make  those  observations,  but,  my  lords,  as  a  matter  of 
principle  —  a  principle  vitally  affecting  the  the  open,  legitimate,  satisfactory 
administration  of  justice  in  this  kingdom — upon  high  public  grounds,  per 
haps  the  highest  public  grounds  that  can  exist,  I  feel  myself  called  upon 
to  protest,  and  I  do  so  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  against  the  system  by 
which,  in  a  Catholic  county,  of  a  Catholic  country,  only  eighteen  Roman 
Catholics — (with  emphasis) — are  returned  upon  a  panel  of  nearly  three  hun 
dred  jurors. 

"In  consequence  of  the  demurrer  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Smith  O'Brien  I 
conceive  it  would  be  a  wanton  waste  of  the  public  time  were  I  to  instruct 
my  counsel  to  challenge  the  array ;  but  as  I  feel  this  will  be  the  last  time 
I  may  raise  my  voice  against  a  system,  which  virtually,  and  in  fact,  repeals 
the  right  conferred  by  law  upon  the  members  of  that  creed  to  which  1  am 
proud  to  belong,  I  feel  it  rny  duty  to  make  this  protest ;  but  in  doing  so 
I  am  sure  the  gentlemen  about  to  be  sworn,  and  those  who  know  me  — 
who  have  given  credit  to  the  sentiments  I  have  uttered  in  public  —  will  be 
lieve  me  when  I  say  that  I  am  not  influenced  by  the  slightest  sentiment  of 
sectarianism.' 

"Loud  applause,  clapping  of  hands,  and  stamping  of  feet  in  the  galle 
ries,  followed  the  conclusion  of  this  short  but  manly  and  characteristic  ad 
dress  of  the  noble-minded  and  enthusiastic  prisoner." 

The  jury,  however,  was  packed  —  all  the  same.  There  was  one  Catholic 
(loyalist,  of  course,)  on  it,  Nicholas  B.  Greene,  Knocknaspie. 

The  trial  then  proceeded.  The  indictment  contained  two  charges  —  one 
for  "levying  war  against  the  Queen,"  and  the  other  of  "compassing  the 
death  ot  the  Queen."  Meagher  was  found  guilty,  in  due  course,  and,  in 
company  with  his  compatriots  —  MacMauus  and  O'Donoghoe  —  was,  on  Mon 
day,  October  23d,  brought  to  the  bar  for  judgment. 

On  being  asked  if  they  had  anything  to  say  why  sentence  of  death  and 
execution  should  not  be  passed  upon  them,  MacMauus  and  O'Donohoe  replied 
in  a  few  manly  sentences';  Mr.  Meagher  then  proceeded  to  address  the  court, 
lie  spoke  as  follows :  — 

ME  AGUE  ITS    LAST    SPEECH  IX  IRELAND. 
DELIVERED  IN  CLOXMEL  COUKT-HOUSE,  OCTOBER  23r>,  1848. 

"  My  Lords,  it  is  my  intention  to  say  a  few  words  only.  I  desire  that  the 
last  act  of  a  proceeding  which  has  occupied  so  much  of  the  public  time  shall 


THE  PENALTY  OF  PATRIOTISM.  293 

be  of  short  duration.  Xor  have  I  the  indelicate  wish  to  close  the  dreary 
ceremony  of  a  State  prosecution  with  a  vain  display  of  words.  Did  I  fear 
that,  hereafter,  when  I  shall  be  no  more,  the  country  I  have  tried  to  serve 
would  think  ill  of  me,  I  might,  indeed,  avail  myself  of  this  solemn  moment 
to  vindicate  my  sentiments  and  my  conduct.  But  1  have  no  such  fear.  The 
country  will  judge  of  those  sentiments  and  that  conduct  in  a  light  far  dif 
ferent  from  that  in  which  the  jury  by  which  I  have  been  convicted  have 
viewed  them ;  and  by  tiie  country,  the  sentence  which  you.  my  lords,  are 
about  to  pronounce,  will  be  remembered  only  as  the  severe  and  solemn  attes 
tation  of  my  rectitude  and  truth.  Whatever  be  the  language  in  which  that 
sentence  be  spoken,  I  know  that  my  fate  will  meet  with  sympathy  and 
that  my  memory  will  be  honored.  In  speaking  thus,  accuse  me  not,  my 
lords,  of  an  indecorous  presumption.  To  the  efforts  I  have  made  in  a  just 
and  noble  cause  I  ascribe  no  vain  importance,  nor  do  I  claim  for  those 
efforts  any  high  reward.  But  it  so  happens,  and  it  will  ever  happen  so, 
that  they  who  have  tried  to  serve  their  country,  no  matter  how  weak  the 
effort  may  have  been,  are  sure  to  receive  the  thanks  and  the  blessings  of 
its  people. 

"With  my  couotrv,  then,  I  leave  my  memory  —  my  sentiments  —  my  acts 
—  proudly  feeling  that  they  require  no  vindication  from  me  this  day.  A 
jury  of  my  countrymen,  it  is  true,  have  found  me  guilty  of  the  crime  of 
which  I  stood  indicted.  For  this  I  entertain  not  the  slightest  feeling  of 
resentment  towards  them.  Influenced,  as  they  must  have  been,  by  the  charge 
of  the  Lord  Chief-Justice,  they  could  have  lound  no  other  verdict. 

u  What  of  that  charge?  Any  strong  observations  on  it,  I  feel  sincerely, 
would  ill  befit  the  solemnity  of  this  scene;  but  1  would  earnestly  beseech 
of  you,  my  lord,  you  who  preside  on  that  bench,  when  the  passions  and 
the  prejudices  of  this  hour  have  passed  away,  to  appeal  to  your  conscience, 
and  ask  of  it,  was  your  charge  as  it  ought  to  have  been;  impartial  and  in 
different  between  the  subject  and  the  crown. 

"My  lords,  you  may  deem  this  language  unbecoming  in  me,  and  per 
haps  it  may  seal  my  fate.  But  I  am  here  to  speak  the  truth  whatever  it 
may  cost.  I  am  here  to  regret  nothing  I  have  ever  done  —  to  retract  nothing 
I  have  ever  said,  I  am  here  to  crave  with  no  lying  lip,  the  life  I  conse 
crate  to  the  liberty  of  mv  country.  Far  from  it;  even  here  —  here,  where 
the  thief,  the  libertine,  the  murderer,  have  left  their  foot-prints  in  the  dust; 
here,  on  this  spot,  where  the  shadows  of  death  surround  me,  and  from 
which  I  see  my  early  grave  in  an  unaunoiiited  soil  open  to  receive  me  — 
even  here,  encircled  by  these  terrors,  the  hope  which  has  beckoned  me  to 


294  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

the  perilous    sea    upon    which  I  have  been   wrecked,    still   consoles,    animates, 
enraptures   me. 

"No,  I  do  not  despair  of  my  poor  old  country,  her  peace,  her  liberty, 
her  glory.  For  that  country  I  can  do  no  more  than  bid  her  hope.  To  lift 
this  island  up  —  to  make  her  a  benefactor  to  humanity,  instead  of  being  the 
meanest  beggar  in  the  world  —  to  restore  to  her  her  native  powers  and  her 
ancient  constitution  —  this  has  been  my  ambition,  and  this  ambition  has  been 
my  crime.  Judged  by  the  law  of  England,  I  know  this  crime  entails  the 
penalty  of  death;  but  the  history  of  Ireland  explains  this  crime,  and  justi 
fies  it.  Judged  by  that  history,  I  am  no  criminal  —  you  (addressing  Mr. 
MacManus.)  and  you  (addressing  Mr.  O'Donohoe,)  are  no  criminals.  I  deserve 
no  punishment  —  we  deserve  no  punishment.  Judged  by  that  history,  the 
treason  of  which  I  stand  convicted  loses  all  its  guilt,  is  sanctified  as  a 
duty,  will  be  ennobled  as  a  sacrifice. 

"With  these  sentiments,  my  lord,  I  await  the  sentence  of  the  Court. 
Having  done  what  I  felt  to  be  my  duty  — having  spoken  what  I  felt  to  be 
the  truth  —  as  I  have  done  on  every  other  occasion  of  my  short  career,  I 
now  bid  farewell  to  the  country  of  my  birth,  my  passion,  and  my  death 

—  the    country   whose    misfortunes  have  invoKed  my   sympathies  —  whose  fac 
tions   I  have  sought  to  still — whose  intellect  I  have  prompted  to  a   lofty  aim 

—  whose   freedom  has   been   my  fatal  dream.      I  offer    to    that    country,    as   a 
proof    of    the    love    I    bear    her,    and     the    sincerity    with    which    1    thought, 
and   spoke,    and   struggled   for  her  freedom  —  the   life    of    a  young   heart,    and 
with    that    life,   all    the  hopes,   the  honors,    the  endearments   of  a  happy   and 
an  honorable    home. 

"Pronounce,  then,  my  lords,  the  sentence  which  the  law  directs;  I  am 
prepared  to  hear  it.  I  trust  I  shall  be  prepared  to  meet  its  execution.  I 
hope  to  be  able,  with  a  pure  heart  and  perfect  composure  to  appear  before 
a  higher  tribunal  —  a  tribunal  where  a  Judge  of  infinite  goodness,  as  well 
as  justice  will  preside,  and  where,  my  lords,  many  —  many,  of  the  judg 
ments  of  this  world  wille  be  reversed." 

The  same  sentence  as  that  passed  on  O'Brien  was  then  pronounced 
against  his  three  compatriots,  after  which  the  victims  were  conveyed  back 
to  their  quarters  in  the  gaol,  there  to  await  their  doom  as  became  the  rep 
resentative  men  of  their  brave  old  race. 

With  the  gaze  of  the  civilized  world  concentrated  upon  her,  the  British 
Queen  felt  that,  with  all  her  thirst  for  vengeance,  she  could  not  in  decency, 
accept  the  spoils  of  victory  which  her  savage  laws  placed  at  her  disposal ; 
so,  in  imitation  of  that  other  arch-hypocrite,  Pilate,  —  she  "washed  her  hand* 


THE  PENALTY  OF  PATRIOTISM.  295 

of  the  bloody  business"  —  and  "  graciously "  ordered  that  the  extreme  sen 
tence  should  be  "^mitigated  to  transportation  for  life.'1'' 

Ail  official  notification  of  Her  Majesty's  pleasure  was  read  to  the  pris 
oners  on  the  26th  of  October,  in  Cloumel  gaol.  On  the  IGth  of  November 
they  were  transferred  to  Dublin,  and  placed  in  Kilrnainham  gaol,  but,  in  a 
few  clays  afterwards  they  were  assigned  quarters  in  Richmond  Bridewell. 

Tliere  they  remained  for  nearly  eight  months,  pending  the  decision  on 
some  legal  points  raised  in  their  bahalf —  but  without  their  consent  —  by 
some  well-meaning  friends. 

MEAGHER'S    LAST    DAY  IX   IRELAND. 

At  length,  on  the  9th  of  July,  1849,  the  order  for  the  deportation  of 
the  State  prisoners  arrived  at  Richmond  Bridewell.  It  had  been  expected. 
and  they  were  ready.  On  that  morning  Meagher  addressed  the  following 
letter  to  his  friend,  John  P.  Leonard,  of  Paris.  It  has  a  peculiar  interest 
for  his  countrymen,  as  being  the  last  he  ever  penned  in  his  native  land. 

RICHMOND  PIHSON,   July  9,   1849. 
"Mr  DEAR  LEONARD:  — 

"This  morning,  or  to-morrow,  at  furthest,  we  will  be  put  on  board  the 
war-brig  which  is  to  convey  us  to  Van  Dieman's  Land,  and  I  most  gladly 
avail  myself  of  a  few  moments  at  my  disposal  to  assure  you,  now  that  I 
am  on  the  eve  of  parting  from  my  sad  poor  country,  of  my  very  warm 
esteem  and  friendship. 

"As  I  told  you  in  one  of  my  previous  letters,  the  recollection  of  the 
days  I  spent  in  Paris,  in  the  eventful  year  of  1848,  will  be  to  me  for  many 
a  year  to  come  a  source  of  very  deep  delight.  Would  to  heaven  that  the 
hopes  which  then  shone  so  brilliantly  above  our  paths  were  still  visible  in  our 
changeful  and  mournful  sky  —  were  still  the  objects  of  the  people's  love, 
faith,  and  adoration.  But  they  have  disappeared  —  clouds  on  clouds  have 
thickened  round  them,  and  in  the  darkness  which  covers  the  land  we  hear 
but  the  wail  of  the  dying,  and  the  supplications  of  the  penniless  and  the 
breadless.  Never,  never  was  their  country  so  utterly  downcast,  so  debased, 
so  pitiful,  to  spiritless.''* 


*When  Meagher  penned  those  lines,  he  could  only  judge  of  the  opinions  of  his  coun 
trymen  by  the  utterances  of  the  cowardly  slaves  who— (when  true  men  were  working 
silently  to  redeem  their  cause  from  unmerited  disgrace) —impudently  presumed  to  speak 
In  the  name  of  the  laud  they  had  betrayed  an  i  sold.  A  few  months  afterwards,  when  an 
exile  at  the  Antipodes,  he  received  intelligence  which  tended  to  dispel  his  gloomy  estimate 


296  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  HEAGHER. 

"Yet  I  do  nor,  could  not,  despair  of  her  regeneration.  Nations  do  not 
die  in  a  day.  Their  lives  are  reckoned  by  generations,  and  they  encompass 
centuries.  Their  vitality  'is  inextinguishable.  Their  sufferings  are  sometimes 
terrible,  but  they  survive  the  deadliest  plagues,  the  red  inundation  of  the 
battle-field,  the  storm  which  topples  towers  and  pyramids,  the  fire  in  which 
millions  of  wealth  is  melted  down,  the  earthquake  which  engulfs  cities 
and  buries  a  whole  people  in  one  indistinguishable  sepulchre  —  they  have 
been  known  to  survive  all.  Greece  has  so  outlived  her  ruins  and  her  woes. 
Italy  has  so  outlived  her  degeneracy  and  her  despotisms.  Thus  too,  shall 
Ireland  survive  all  her  sufferings,  her  error*,  and  disasters,  and  rear  one 
day  an  "Arch  of  Triumph"  high  above  the  wreck  and  wilderness  of  the 
past.  This  is  my  sincere  faith.  It  is  this  which  elates  me  at  this  moment 
—  it  is  this  which  in  my  weary  exile  will  make  me  Jorget  my  solitude,  for 
get  my  privations,  forget  all  the  happiness  I  have  sacrificed,  and  change 
what  would  otherwise  be  a  weary  bondage  into  a  tranquil,  happy  dream. 
Besides,  I  feel  that  I  have  simply  done  nothing  else  than  my  plain  duty, 
and  hence  I  cannot  be  otherwise  than  proud  and  happy  at  this  moment. 
My  heart,  indeed,  was  never  so  firm  —  the  consciousness  of  having  acted 
with  'purity,  with  generosity,  in  the  face  of  all  perils,  and  at  the  cost  of 
friends  and  home  and  country  —  this  is  a  deep,  never-failing  source  of  the 
most  delightful  joy.  I  would  not  exchange  places  this  day  with  the  most 
comfortable  and  happy  slave  in  the  country. 

"  Orders   have   come. 

"  Yours   devotedly, 

" THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGIIER." 


of  Ireland's  manhood  at  the  time;  and, —in  alludlag  to  the  subject  afterwards,  to  bear 
the  loilowing  testimony  to  the  true  state  of  Irish  popular  sentiment  In  the  summer  of 
1849:  — 

"The  "Swift"  did  not  transport  the  patriotism  of  the  country.  A  very  small  poition 
was  packed  on  board  that  pleasant  sloop  of  war,  and  consigned  to  Hobart  Town.  The 
young,  Intelligent  meu  of  the  country  —  artizaus,  literary  men,  the  better  circumstanced  and 
educated  of  the  peasantry,  the  young  tradesmen  of  the  LeinsUr  and  Munster  towns  — these 
remained  to  try  another  wrestle  with  the  veteran  foe  of  Ireland. 

"Hundreds  of  young  Irishmin,  in  humble  social  circumstances,  modestly  and  silently 
daied  and  lost  all  for  Ireland  in  184S,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1849,  the  period  to  which  in 
these  paragraphs  we  specially  a  lude."  —  MEAGUEK  in  the  Irish  News  July  19th,  1856. 


THE  PENALTY  OF  PATRIOTISM.  297 

The  baud  that  penned  the  above  may  be  readily  recognized  in  the  fol 
lowing 

FAREWELL  ADDKESS 

Or  THE  STATE  PRISONERS  TO  THE    PEOPLE    OF    IRELAND,   WRITTEN  IMMEDI 
ATELY    BEFORE  THEIR  DEPARTURE. 

"  FELLOW- COUNTRYMEN  :  — 

"  If  your  efforts  to  procure  a  mitigation  of  the  penalties  to 
which  we  are  about  to  be  subjected  had  been  as  successful  as  you  desired, 
we  could  not  have  offered  you  more  sincere  and  grateful  acknowledgments 
than  those  which  we  now  tender,  for  the  sympathy  and  solicitude  which 
you  have  displayed  in  our  behalf." 

"  At  this  moment,  whilst  we  are  bidding  our  last  sad  farewell  to  our 
native  land,  the  reflection  that  our  fellow-countrymen  have  not  witnessed 
with  indifference  our  removal  from  amongst  them  is  a  sweet  source  of  con 
solation;  and,  be  assured,  that  this  remembrance  will  hereafter  be  a  sooth 
ing  alleviation  to  whatever  sufferings  it  may  be  our  lot  to  endure. 

"  Knowing  that  we  address  many  who  do  not  concur  with  us  in  politi 
cal  opinions,  we  do  not  ftel  ourselves  at  liberty  to  offer  any  observations 
upon  the  policy  by  which  this  country  is  governed  —  upon  the  policy  which 
gave  occasion  to  our  resistance  to  British  power  —  upon  the  policy  which 
now  consigns  us  to  exile.  We  are  compelled  to  repress  even  the  emotions 
which  we  feel  in  reflecting  upon  the  awful  condition  in  which  we  leave  the 
l.md  that  we  have  deeply  loved ;  nor  is  this  a  fitting  occasion  ro  point  out 
the  means  by  which  its  disasters  may  be  repaired;  but  we  cannot  refrain 
from  the  expression  of  a  hope,  that  you  will  not  despair  of  your  country; 
and  we  may  be  permitted  to  offer  to  our  fellow-countrymen  a  parting 
exhortation,  that  they  will  lay  aside  those  unhappy  dissensions  which  have 
so  long  paralysed  the  intrinsic  strength  of  the  Irish  nation,  and  henceforth 
learn  to  love  and  confide  in  each  other. 

"  We  feel  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  say  anything  to  you  in  vindica 
tion  of  our  motives.  Even  those  who  most  condemn  our  conduct  know  that 
we  have  not  been  animated  by  considerations  of  a  personal  nature  in  haz 
arding  all  that  was  dear  to  us  for  the  sake  of  our  native  land;  but  we 
owe  it  to  our  feelings  to  declare  that,  whatever  may  be  the  sacrifices  we 


298  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

incur    by    devotion    to    its    interests,   our    latest     aspiration    will    be  a  prayer 
for   the  prosperity,    the  honor,    and   the  independence  of  Ireland. 

"  WILLIAM  SMITH  O'BRIEN, 
"THOMAS  FRANCIS   MEAGHER, 
"  TERENCE  BELLEW  MCMANUS, 
"  PATRICK  O'DONOHOE. 
"Richmond  Prison." 


CHAPTER   XLIX. 


CLOSING   SCENES. 

"  The  last  breeze  from   Erin 

Has  passed  oe'r  my  brow, 
The  gale  of  tl  e  ocean 

Is  o-er  me  now; 
I  Jeave  thee  my  country 

Farewell!  though  thou  art 
The  life-pulse  that  stirs  me  — 

The  veins  of    my  heart. 

Erin  mavourneen,  farewell !  " 

[From   Meagher's   "Personal   Recollections."] 

"  Monday  morning,  July  9th,  1849.  Cornelius  Cooper,  Deputy  Governor, 
Richmond  Prison,  Dublin,  enteied  my  cell  in  said  prison.  Informed  me  that 
the  Governor  of  said  prison  had  received  a  communication  from  Mr.  Red- 
ington,  Under  Secretary  for  the  English  Government  of  Ireland,  notifying 
him  that  orders  had  been  issued  for  the  immediate  transportation  of  the 
political  prisoners  in  his  custody. 

'•William  Smith  O'Brien,  Terence  Bellew  McManus,  Patrick  O'Donohue, 
and  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  were  the  prisoners  in  question. 

"Half-past  ten,  police  van,  escorted  by  fifty  mounted  police  —  pistols 
and  carbines  —  pulled  up  within  the  wall  of  the  prison. 


CLOSING  SCENES.  299 


"Three  troops  of  Dragoons  —  6th   Carbineers  —  under  command  of  Colonel 
Mannsel  —  arrived   shortly  after. 

"  Half-past  eleven,  entered  the  van.  Tears,  farewells,  waving  of  hand 
kerchiefs.  At  a  rapid  pace  driven  off  to  the  Pigeon  House.  Artillery-men 
at  tneir  guns.  Guns  loaded.  Colonels  of  all  branches  of  her  Majesty's  ser 
vice  on  the  ground.  Most  of  them  with  red  noses.  Boats  of  the  Dragon, 
war-steamer,  in  readiness.  Each  boat  \v<  11  manned.  A  Lieutenant  command 
ing.  In  two  or  three  minutes  the  Dragon  brings  us  to  the  Swift.  —  The 
Sicift  lies  at  anchor  a  little  outside  the  light-house  on  Kingstown  pier.  A 
ten-gun  brig,  very  trim,  bright  and  rakish. 

'•  On   board  the   brig,   introduced    to  the  captain,   shown  to  our  cabin. 
'  Half-past    three,   under    weigh.      Passing    Bray   Head  permitted  to   walk 
the   deck.     Previous    to    doing   so,    the   Captain,    accompanied   by   the   Surgeon, 
read   us  the  rules   we  had   to  observe  during  the  trip. 

"Rules  simple  enough.  Two  only  permitted  on  deck  at  a  time.  Lights 
extinguished  nine  o'clock  every  night.  Xo  communication  with  any  of  the 
ship's  compai.y,  Captain  and  Surgeon  excepted.  Xo  smoking  save  on  deck, 
abreast  the  main-mast,  and  then  at  stated  hours  only.  Hours  stated  be 
tween  one  and  two  p.  M.,  and  five  and  six  p.  M.  Meals  supplied  by  Brit 
ish  Government.  Same  scale  as  supernumeraries.  S)  nominated  in  the  bond. 
"Eules  being  read,  O'Brien  and  I  went  on  deck.  Within  gun-shot  of 
the  Wicklow  coast.  Half-past  five  —  clouds  thickening  —  dinner  served.  Served 
by  a  marine  with  cross-belts  and  bayonet. 

"Dinner  consists  of  two  pounds  of  hard  beef-steak  —  plate  of  sea-biscuii 
—  a  jug  ol  tank  water.  The  jug  had  a  white  body  and  a  blue  fringe. 

"Sergeant  of  Marines  wearing  sash  and  side-arms,  carrying  a  dark-lan 
tern,  visited  us  at  nine  o'clock.  Extinguished  our  lamp  —  swung  his  lantern 
in  our  faces  —  wished  us  good  uiglit — locked  the  door  —  handed  the  key  to 
the  Captain. 

"Following  morning  —  July  10th  —  seven  o'clock  —  off  the  TVaterford  coast. 
A  beautiful  bright  morning.  Will  no  one  come  out  to  hail  me  from  Dunmore? 
I  pass  by,  and  my  own  people  know  nothing  of  li." 

That  was  Meagher's  heart-rending  exclamation  on  taking  his  last  look 
into  the  noble  estuary  of  the  Suir,  —  the  river  he  was  destined  to  see  never 
more  —  save  in  dreams.  It  was  not,  however,  the  exile's  last  look  on  his 
native  land.  As  the  Swift  held  on  her  southern  course  from  St.  George's 
Channel  into  the  Atlantic  ocean,  for  a  few  brief  hours  longer,  he  feasted 
his  eyes  in  succession  on  the  familiar  Bay  of  Tramore,  the  rock-bound  coast 
around  by  Buumahou  to  Clouea;  still  later,  on  the  rugged  spurs  of  the 


300  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEB. 

Monavullagh    Mountains    with    Cruachan  in  the  foreground,  —  and,   far   to   the 
north  —  cutting  clear  against  the   summer  sky  —  the  pyramidal  peak  of  Knock- 
meldown  —  caught    his    glance    and    held    it    transfixed    ui.til    it,    too,    sauk   it 
blue  forehead  into  the  illimitable   sea. 

Erin  mavourneen,   farewell. 


CHAPTER   L. 


LIFE  IX  AUSTRALIA. 

I  wish  I  was  home  in  Ireland, 

For  the  flowers  will    Foon   be  there, 
Clothing  each  vale  and  highland, 

And  loading  the  perfumed  air. 

For,  In  spite  of  the  Saxon's  scowlings, 

The   land  to  my  heart  Is  dear; 
And  to  be  but  one  day  In  Ireland 

Were  worth  a  whole  lifetime  here. 

JOHN  WALSII. 

AFTER  an  uneventful  voyage,  the  monotony  of  which  was  only  relieved 
by  a  twenty-four  hours'  sojourn  in  Simon's  Bay,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  the 
Irish  exiles  sighted  the  extreme  southern  point  of  Van  Dieman's  Land,  on 
Saturday,  the  28th  of  October.  The  following  day  the  Swift  came  to  anchor 
in  Hobart  Town  harbor.  The  officers  and  most  of  the  crew  having  gone 
ashore  in  the  afternoon,  the  prisoners,  under  charge  of  a  marine  guard, 
had  the  deck  to  themselves,  and  watched,  with  much  interest  the  numerous 
boats  which  put  off  from  shore,  and  hovered  round  the  ship  —  their  inmates 
evidently  anxious  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  distinguished  strangers,  —  some  of 
them  —  despite  the  threatening  warnings  of  the  sentry  to  "Keep  off''  —  ven 
turing  in  close  to  the  gangway,  enquiring  "how  the  gentlemen  were,  and 
when  they  would  come  ashore?" 


LIFE  IN  AUSTRALIA.  301 


AN  IRISH.   WELCOME. 

In  his  first  letter  from  Australia,  bearing  date  December  1st.  1849,  and 
addressed  to  a  friend  in  Dublin,  Meagher,  referring  to  the  scenes  in  Hobart 
Town  harbor,  says  :  — 

"  In  all  these  incidents,  alight  and  fleeting  as  they  were,  we  saw  at 
once  the  evidence  of  a  kindly  feeling  towards  us ;  and  somehow  we  felt  as 
though  a  few  warm  wjiispers  of  the  old  Irish  heart  at  home  were  floating 
through  the  air.  Nor  were  we  wrong  in  this,  for,  later,  still,  we  heard  in 
its  full  broad  tone,  the  true  expression  of  that  old  but  faithful  and  endur 
ing  heart.  About  seven  o'clock  O'Brien  and  I  were  walking  up  and  down 
the  quarter-deck  together,  when  a  boat  rowed  by  a  fine  young  lad,  and 
having  two  women  in  it.  stole  gently  alongside.  The  sentry,  however,  was 
wide  awake,  and  was  not  long  in  telling  them  to  k  be  off.' 

UiAh!  then,  why  should  you  be  tellin'  us  to  be  off,  sentry  my  darlin', 
when  you've  the  best  of  the  country  aboard?' 

'•  The  accent  and  the  sentiment  were  not  to  be  mistaken :  so,  O'Brien  and 
I  moved  forward  to  have  a  nearer  view  of  the  visitors.  The  moment  they 
saw  us,  the  eldest  of  the  women  —  for  one  of  them  was  rather  old,  and 
the  other  was  both  young  and  handsome  —  clapping  her  hands  with  the 
pocket-handkerchief  between  them  —  exclaimed:  — 

" l  Oh  you're  welcome,  you're  welcome,  Mr.  O'Brien,  you're  welcome  to 
us !  though  it's  a  quare  home  you're  coming  to.' 

"  Here  the  sentry  considered  it  his  duty  to  be  a  degree  or  two  peremp 
tory,  and  pitching  his  voice  to  a  level  with  the  conception,  ordered  the 
boat  to  '  be  off,'  and,  '  not  to  be  a  minute  about  it ;  to  do  it  sharp,  in 
double  quick  time,  they  had  better.'  Upon  which  our  poor  countrywoman 
renewed  her  welcome,  and  adding,  '  Shure  it  was  a  hard  case  not  to  get 
sight  of  the  gentlemen  at  all,'  wished  us  good  night. 

"  Next  morning,  along  with  a  number  of  other  women  who  had  come 
for  the  officers'  linen,  she  was  found  on  board.  She  had  a  loi  g  talk  with 
O'Brien  about  Limerick  and  Clare,  and  the  gentry  on  both  sides  of  the 
Shannon  from  Tarbert  to  Doouas;  for  'she  knew  them  all  well,  that  she 
did,  and  why  not,  when  she  was  born,  bred,  and  reared  in  Newarket-on- 
Fergus.  where  she  had  seen  many  a  bright  May-day,  and  many  a  harvest- 
home,  and  cheerful  Hallow-eve.' 

"To  continue  the  story,  her  husband  had  been  in  the  'troubles,'  some 
years  ago,  a  Whiteboy,  or  something  of  that  sort,  and  after  he  got  his  lib 
erty,  she  came  out  to  him,  and  brought  '  that  slip  of  a  boy  we  saw  in 
the  boat,  and  his  sister  beside  him,'  along  with  her,  all  the  way  from  the 


302  MEMOIES  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

Cove  of  Cork  out  here;  for  she  heard  it  was  a  beautiful  climate,  and  money 
in  plenty,  and  mutton  for  nothing.  So  they  took  a  farm,  but  the  bad  times 
came,  —  there  are  bad  times  here  as  well  as  at  home,  says  she,  —  and  they 
had  to  come  into  town;  and  her  husband  was  working  for  Mr.  Somebody 
over  the  way,  and  she  did  a  little  in  the  mangling  line;  but  that  wouldn't 
have  brought  her  on  deck  if  Mr.  O'Brien  wasn't  there  for  his  country,  and 
her  starvin'  poor.  God  help  the  ciathurs!" 

AN    OFFICIAL    VISITOR. 

"  On  that  evening  we  were  informed  that  the  Captain  wished  to  see  us 
in  our  saloon.  Down  we  went  arid  were,  one  by  one,  lormally  introduced, 
as  an  indispensable  part  of  the  lugubrious  ceremony  of  transportation,  to 
the  assistant  comptroller  of  convicts,  Mr.  Wm.  E.  Nairn.  Mr.  Nairn  in 
formed  us  that  he  had  received  directions  from  his  excellency  the  Governor 
to  communicate  to  us,  that  he  had  received  from  the  Secretary  of  State 
for  the  Home  Department  instructions  to  grant  us  'tickets  of  leave,'  pro 
vided  that,  in  the  first  place,  the  Captain  under  whose  charge  we  were, 
reported  favorably  on  our  conduct  during  the  voyage;  and,  in  the  second 
place,  that,  previous  to  our  receiving  the  tickets  of  leave,  we  pledged  our 
selves  as  men  of  honor,  not  to  make  use  of  the  limited  feedom  so  conferred 
to  escape  from  the  island. 

"  The  Captain  having  reported  favorably,  it  now  remained  for  him  (Mr. 
Nairn,)  to  receive  the  pledge  required  as  an  indispensable  condition  to  the 
tickets  of  leave.  Having  taken  a  few  minutes  to  consider  the  proposition, 
and  conceiving  the  condition  upon  which  we  were  to  receive  it  to  be  fair 
and  honorable,  I  determined  upon  accepting  the  ticket  of  leave. 

•'  Mr.  Nairn  afterwards  intormed  us,  that  each  of  us  was  to  be  assigned 
separate  districts  of  the  colony  —  no  two  being-  allowed  to  reside  together, 
or  within  the  same  district  even;  that  Campbelltown  had  been  assigned  to 
me,  Hobart  Town  to  O'Dunohoe,  and  New  Norfolk  to  McManus;  and  that 
we  were  to  remain  on  board  until  Wednesday.  Mr.  O'Brien,  having  declined 
to  accept  the  ticket  of  leave,  Marie  Island  was  assigned  to  him. 

u  The  next  day  several  gentlemen  came  on  board  to  visit  us ;  amongst  them 
the  Very  Rev.  Dr.  Hall  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dunn,  both  of  them  Catholic 
clergymen  —  the  former  Vicar-General  of  the  diocese;  the  latter  a  missionary 
at  Richmond.  Their  manner  towards  us  was  most  warm  and  afl'ectionate, 
and  their  offers  of  kind  services  unbounded.  With  such  visitors  as  these, 
you  can  hardly  imagine  the  pleasure  with  which  the  day  passed  over.  Be- 


LIFE  IN  AUSTRALIA.  303 


sides,  from  day-break  we  had   been  on  the  look-out  for  O'Doherty  and  Martin^ 
who  were  hourly  expected   from   Sidney." 

Before  day-break  next  morning  the  exiles  were  landed  and  took  the 
coach  on  their  way  to  their  respective  destinations.  At  3  r.  M.  they  arrived 
at  Campbelltown,  and  there  Meagher  parted  with  his  compatriots,  who  con 
tinued  their  journey  to  Launcest.  A  few  days  subsequently  Meager  settled 
down  at  Koss,  a  little  village  seven  miles  from  Campbelltown,  but  within 
the  district.  Here  he  was  fortunate  in  forming  the  acquaintance  of  an  Irish 
gemleman — who  afterwards  proved  himself  a  sincere  and  warm  friend, 
—  without  whose  occasional  companionship  his  life  in  lloss  would  be 
u  as  lonesome  as  that  of  the  most  secluded  hermit."  His  mornings  and 
evenings  were  devoted  to  his  books;  during  the  intervening  hours  he  "took 
a  gallop  through  the  '  bush '  in  quest  of  a  kangaroo,  or  a  stroll  on  foot 
along  the  banks  of  the  Maquarie." 

After  two  months"  experience  of  this  strange  life,  Meagher,  in  a  letter 
to  Mr.  Huffy  dated  February,  1850,  reverting  to  the  subject  of  his  former 
communication  —  continues :  — 

"  So  far,  then,  you  see,  I  have  no  complaint  to  make  with  regard  to 
our  present  fate — dull,  and  bleak,  and  wearisome  as  it  is.  But  I  do  com 
plain,  that,  having  separated  us  by  so  many  thousand  miles  of  sea  from 
all  that  was  dear,  consoling,  and  inspiring  to  our  hearts,  they  should  have 
increased  the  severity  of  tnis  punishment  by  distributing  us  over  a  strange 
land,  in  which  the  most  gratifying  friendships  we  could  form  would  com 
pensate  us  poorly  for  the  loss  of  the  warm  familiar  companionship  we  so 
long  enjoyed.  There  is  McManus  away  in  New  Norfolk,  O'Douohoe  in  II  o- 
bart  Town,  O'D-  gherty  in  Oatlands,  Martin  in  Bothwell,  Meagher  in  Camp 
belltown,  O'Brien  off  there  in  Marie  Island.  Each  has  a  separate  district, 
and  out  of  that  district  there  is  no  redemption. 

"Now,  generally  speaking,  a  "district"  is  about  the  size  of  a  repect- 
able  country  parish  at  home.  Mine,  for  instance,  extends  from  thirty  to 
thirty-five  miles  in  length,  and  varies  from  ten  to  fifteen  in  breadth.  At 
the  end  of  a  fortnight  I  came  to  the  conclusion,  that  between  a  prison  and 
a  "district"  there  was  just  about  the  same  difference  as  exists  between  a 
stable  and  a  paddock.  In  the  one  you  are  tied  up  by  a  halter  —  in  the  other 
you  have  the  swing  of  a  tetner. 

"  Within  the  last  five  weeks,  however,  Martin.  O'Doherty  and  I  have 
discovered  a  point  common  to  our  three  respective  districts,  at  which,  with 
out  a  breach  of  the  regulation  prohibiting  any  two  or  more  of  us  from 
residing  together,  we  can  meet  from  time  to  time. 


304  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHER. 

"This  fortunate  point  is  on  the  edge  of  a  noble  lake,  twenty-four  miles 
from  Hess,  up  in  a  range  of  mountains  known  as  the  'Western  Tier.' 
O'Doherty  has  to  ride  twenty  miles  to  it,  and  Martin  five-and-twenty.  Mon 
day  is  usually  our  day  of  meeting,  and  eleven,  or  thereabouts,  the  hour 
at  which  we  emerge  from  three  different  quarters  of  the  "bush,"  and  come 
upon  the  ground. 

"The  point  itself  is  a  small,  cosy,  smoky  bit  of  a  log-hut,  inhabited 
by  a  solitary  gentleman  named  Cooper.  The  hut  is  fifteen  leet  by  ten,  and 
high  enough  to  admit  in  an  upright  position  of  any  reasonable  extension  of 
legs,  spine,  hat,  and  shirt-collar.  The  furniture  consists  of  something  to 
sleep  on  —  I  don't  know  what  to  call  it;  a  table,  very  weak  in  the  extrem 
ities  ;  two  stools,  a  block  for  splitting  chops  upon ;  a  shelf,  three  feet  in 
length,  and  furnished  with  a  couple  of  pewter  plates,  a  gunpowder  Mask 
full  of  pepper,  three  breakfast  cups,  a  carving  knife,  a  breakfast  knife,  forks 
to  match,  a  tract  upon  Foreign  Missions,  and  two  columns  of  a  Sunday  Ob 
server,  bearing  a  remote  date. 

"  Here  we  dine,  and  spend  the  evening  up  to  half-past  five  o'clock,  when 
we  descend  the  •  Tier,'  and  betake  ourselves  to  our  n  spective  homes.  Whilst 
the  preparations  for  the  dinner  are  going  on,  we  are  rambling  along  the  shores 
of  the  lakei  talking  of  old  times,  singing  the  old  songs,  weaving  fresh  hopes 
among  the  old  ones  that  have  ceased  to  bloom. 

"•  You  cannot  picture  to  yourself  the  happiness  which  the  days  we  have 
spent  by  that  lonely,  glorious  lake  have  brought  us.  They  have  been  sum 
mer  days,  all  of  then);  and  through  the  sunshine  have  floated  the  many- 
colored  memories,  the  red  griefs,  the  golden  hopes  of  our  sad,  beautiful 
old  country. 

'•  Oh !  should  hearts  grow  faint  at  home,  and,  in  the  cold,  dark  current 
of  despair,  fling  down  the  hope  they  once  waved,  like  a.  sacred  torch,  on 
high ;  tell  them  that  here,  in  this  strange  land,  and  in  the  loneliest  haunts 
and  pathways  of  it  —  here  by  the  shores  of  a  lake  where  as  yet  no  sail 
has  sparkled,  and  few  sounds  of  human  life  as  yet  have  scared  the  wild 
swan,  or  startled  the  black  snake  Ironi  its  nest  —  tell  them  that  here,  upon 
a  lone,  lone  spot  iu  the  far  Southern  Seas,  there  are  prayers  full  of  confi 
dence,  and  faith  and  love,  offered  up  for  Ireland's  cause:  and  that  the  belief 
in  her  redemption  and  her  glory  has  accompanied  her  soi.s  to  their  place 
of  exile,  and  there,  like  some  beautiful  and  holy  charm,  abides  with  them; 
filling  the  days  of  their  humble  solitude  with  calm  light,  and  joyous  melo 
dies,  and  visions  of  serene  and  radieut  loveliness.'' 

ID    April.    1850,   John    Mitchel    arrived  in   Van  Diemau'a  Land.     Owing  to 


LIFE  IN  AUSTRALIA.  305 


the  poor  state  of  his  health  he  was  permitted  to  take  up  his  residence 
with  John  Martin  in  the  Both  well  district,  aud  thenceforward  they  habitu 
ally  attended  the  re-unions  at  Lake  Sorell  together.-  McManus,  too,  in 
defiance  of  the  boundary  limits,  occasionally  traveled  over  sixty  miles  from 
his  district  to  enjoy  a  few  hours'  companionship  with  his  beloved  friends. 
But,  after  all.  their  life  in  Australia  was  becoming  intolerable.  Mitchel 
characteristically  referred  to  it  as  "a  kind  of  siucope  or  trance,"  their 
movements  as  "somnambulistic,"  and  their  ''apparent  doings  .and  sayings 
as  sick  men's  dreams." 

From  their  first  arrival  in  Tan  Dieman's  Land  all  the  Irish  patriots  had 
been  subjected  to  various  petty  persecutions  by  the  authorities.  O'Brien's 
health  suffered  so  severely  from  his  treatment  (  n  Marie  Island,  that  his 
physician  pronounced  his  life  in  imminent  danger,  unless  he  consented  to 
accept  a  '•  ticket  of  leave,"  and  remove  to  a  healthier  district.  He  accord 
ingly  did  as  recommended,  aud  chose  Xew  Norfolk  as  his  future  place  of 
residence.  Meagher  went  to  see  him  there,  and.  lor  daring  to  do  so,  he 
was  confined  a  prisoner  in  his  own  house  for  some  time.  McManus  had 
his  parole  revoked  by  the  arbitrary  order  of  Governor  Denuison,  and  was 
taken  into  custody,  but  was  released,  in  spite  of  the  Governor,  by  order  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  then,  without  accepting  a  fresh  "•  ticket  of  leave," 
—  by  the  aid  of  friends  —  obtained  passage  on  a  vessel  to  San  Francisco." 

Some  short  time  after  McManus  effected  his  escape,  —  or,  on  the  22d  of 
February.  1851,  —  Meagher  got  married  to  a  Miss  Bennett,  a  most  beautiful 
young  lady,  the  daughter  of  a  farmer  residing  near  New  Norfolk.  He  built 
a  pretty  cottage  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Sorell.  and  removed  with  his  bride 
thereto.  For  the  next  year  he  led  a  life  that  the  majority  of  men  would 
consider  happy.  But  Meagher  was  no  song-bird  to  be  content  to  dwell  iu  a 
pretty  cage;  his  free-born  spirit  would  not  be  circumscribed  by  any  extent 
of  territory  over  which  the  flag  of  England  dominated. 

But,  as  it  was,  the  baleful  influence  of  that  detested  power  was  exerted 
to  mar  his  iranquility, —  pursuing  him  even  into  that  lonely  little  nest  in 
the  wilderness;  aud  so  he  determined  to  free  himself  once  for  all,  from  its 
thraldom,  at  any  risk,  and  at  any  sacrifice. 

A  week  before  he  made  the  final  stroke  for  liberty,  he  signified  his 
determination  to  his  friend,  Mr.  Duffy  —  iu  the  following  letter:  — 


"LAKE   SORELL,  Van   Dieman's   Laud. 
'  MY  DEAH  DUFFY:  — 


December   27th,    1851. 


"In    great    h.iste    I  have  sat  down  to  tell  you   that  I  am   determined   to 

2U 


306  MEJlOUtlS   OF  GEX.    THOMAS  FEANCIti 


withdraw    my    parole  —  throw     up     my     "ticket     of     leave''  —  and    afterwards 
attempt  my   escape. 

"  I  seek  some  land  in  which  a  useful  and  honorable  career  will  be  ope 
to  me,  and  where,  free  from  the  galling  restrictions  which  beset  and  ham 
per  me  at  every  step,  and  yet  more  galling  indignities  which  intrude  them 
selves  even  into  the  sanctuaiy  of  my  humble  home.  1  may  find  generous 
and  creditable  employment  for  whatever  energies  I  possess  through  the  good 
ness  of  God. 

"With    fervent    hope    that,    with    His    aid    and   blessing,    I   shall   have  the 
delight    of    writing    my  next  letter  to   you  under  the   shadow   and  protection 
of  the   flag   of  Washington,  and    with  fondest  remembrance  to  Maurice  Leyne, 
and  all   my  other  dear  and   devoted   friends, 
"Believe   me, 

"  My   dear    Duffy,    ever   to  remain, 
"  Whatever   be   my   fate, 

"  Your   faithful   and    affectionate  friend, 

•'  T.   F.  MEAGHEK." 

HOW   MEAGHER   EFFECTED    HIS   ESCAPE. 

In  the  following  letter,  written  a  few  days  after  Mr.  Meagher's  arrival 
in  New  York,  the  illustrious  exile  related  the  manner  in  which  his  escape 
from  Van  Dieman's  Land  was  effected  :  — 

"GLEN    COVE,    Saturday.    June  5,    1852. 
"  To   the    Editor   of  the    New    York    Daily    Times  :  — 

"  DEAR     SIR,  —  In     consequence     of     some     misstatements     regarding     my 
escape,    which    I    have   just   seen    in    two    or    three    of    the    European    papers, 
and    which    appear    to    have    been    copied   from   an   Australian   paper,    I    think  • 
it  right   to   set  the   facts   before  the   American    public,   to   whom    alone  I  now 
hold  myself  responsible. 

"The  remarkable  kindness  }  have  experienced  irom  the  press  and  the 
public  generally,  ever  since  my  arrival  in  this  noble  country,  and  the  anxiety 
I  feel  to  have  it  understood  that  I  am  not  deficient  in  the  honorable  spirit 
which  qualifies  a  stranger  to  become  its  citizen,  compel  me  to  break  the 
silence  which  no  act  or  wor  1,  on  the  part  of  my  enemies,  could  ever 
disturb. 

"  The  facts  are  these  ; 


THE  ESCAPE,  307 


"In  the  month  of  April,  1851,  I  was  called  upon  to  renew  my  parolf. 
I  did  so  in  writing,  and  in  the  following  words : 

" '  /  hereby  pledge  my  word  of  honor  not  to  leave  the  colony  so  long  as  I 
kold  a  ticket  of  leave.' 

"  I  handed  this  pledge  to  the  Police  Magistrate  in  the  open  court.  Any 
one  can  see  it  who  desires  to  refer  to  it. 

"  Towards  the  end  of  December,  the  same  year,  1  came  to  the  determi 
nation  of  attempting  my  eseape.  Accoidingly,  on  the  3d  of  January  last, 
I  sent  the  following  letter  to  the  Police  Magistrate  of  the  district  in  which 
I  resided : 

"  '  LAKE  SORELL,  DISTRICT  OF  CAMPBELLTOWN,  ) 
'"Saturday,   January   3,    1852.         ' 

:"SiR:  —  Circumstances  of  a  recent  occurrence  urge  upon  me  the  neces 
sity  of  resigning  my  ticket  of  leave,  and  consequently  withdrawing  my 
parole. 

"  '  I  write  this  letter,  therefore,  respectfully  to  apprise  you,  that  after 
12  o'clock  to-morrow  noon,  1  shall  no  longer  consider  myself  bound  by  the 
obligation  which  that  parole  imposes. 

"'In  the  meantime,  however,  should  you  conceive  it  your  duty  to  take 
me  into  custody,  1  shall,  as  a  matter  of  course,  regard  myself  as  wholly 
absolved  from  the  restraint  which  my  word  of  honor  to  your  Government 
at  present  inflicts. 

" '  I   have   the   honor   to   be,    sir, 

'•'With    sincere   lespect, 

"'Your    obedient   servant, 

"' THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGIIER. 
"  '  To   the   Police   Magistrate   of  the   District   of  CampMUuwn  '  " 

"The  Police  Magistrate  received  this  letter  at  11  o'clock  the  same  mor 
ning:—!  remained  in  my  cottage,  at  Lake  Sorell,  until  7  o'clock  that  even 
ing.  A  few  minutes  after  that  hour,  four  of  my  friends  arrived  on  horse 
back,  and  communicated  to  me  the  intelligence  that  the  police  were  coming 
to  arrest  me.  I  went  out  with  them  into  the  bush,  and  remained  there, 
about  three  hundred  yards  from  the  cottage,  until  my  servant  brought  the 
news  that  the  police  had  arrived,  and  were  sitting  in  the  kitchen. 

"We  mounted  our  horses  immediately,  and  rode  down  to  the  cottage. 
One*  hundred  yards  from  it  my  friends  drew  up.  I  rode  on  until  I  came 
close  to  the  stable,  which  was  within  pistol  shot  of  the  kitchen  door.  I 


3w8  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  JFRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

drew  up  there,  and  desired  the  servant  to  go  in  and  tell  the  police  T  was 
waiting  for  them.  He  did  so.  Two  or  three  minutes  elapsed.  The  police 
appeared.  The  moment  they  appeared  1  rose  in  my  stirrups,  and  called 
out  that  I  was  the  prisoner  they  came  to  arrest,  and  I  defied  them  to 
do  so.  This  challenge  was  echoed  by  my  friends  with  three  loud  and  hearty 
cheers,  in  the  midst  of  which  I  struck  spurs  to  my  horse,  and  dashed  into 
tht  wood,  in  the  direction  of  the  coast.  Accompanied  by  my  generous  and 
courageous-hearted  friends,  I  reached  the  sea-shore  on  Monday  afternoon,  at  a 
point  where  a  boat  was  in  readiness  to  receive  me.  I  jumped  from  my 
horse,  got  into  the  boat,  put  off  to  sea,  and  beat  about  there  for  a  few  days, 
until  the  ship  came  up,  which,  thank  God !  bore  me  at  last,  to  a  free  and 
hospitable  land. 

"In  plain  words,  these  are  the  plain  facts  of  the  case.  As  I  have  writ 
ten  them  here,  they  were  written  by  one  of  my  friends,  at  the  house  where 
we  changed  horses  on  our  way  to  the  coast.  The  manuscript  containin 
them  was  forwarded  next  morning,  Tuesday,  to  the  editor  of  the  leading 
journal  of  the  colony,  and  bore  the  names  of  my  friends,  written  by  their 
own  hands,  in  attestation  of  its  truth.  The  gentleman  to  whom  it  was  sent, 
was  instructed  not  to  publish  the  names  that  were  attached  to  it.  He  was 
however,  at  the  same  time,  requested  to  insert  the  document  itself  in  the 
next  number  of  his  paper,  and  was  left  at  full  and  perfect  liberty  to  show 
the  signatures  to  any  person  who  might  wish  to  be  satisfied  upon  the  sub 
ject,  and  would  pledge  his  honor  not  to  abuse  the  confidence  reposed  in 
him,  by  involving  the  parties  concerned  in  any  legal  difficulty. 

"The  men   who  vouched   with   their  signatures  for  the  truth  of  the  state 
ment    then    made,   and    now    repeated,    are    men   of  considerable  property   and 
highly   creditable    position    in    the    colony,   and    no    one    there    would   be  rash 
enough  to   speak   a  single  word  derogatory  of  their  honor. 
"  I  have  the  honor  to   be 

"Your  faithful   and   grateful   servant, 

"  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER." 

The  boat  on  which  Meagher  embarked  was  owned  and  manned  by  two 
poor  fishermen,  who  had  been  engaged  by  his  friends  to  convey  him  to 
one  of  the  uninhabited  little  islands  that  dot  the  Straits  which  separate 
Van  Dieman's  Land  from  the  great  island  of  Australia.  The  island  in  question 
was  known  on  the  chart  as  "  Waterhouse  Island."  It  had  been  arranged 
that  he  was  to  await  there  the  arrival  of  the  ship  which  was  to  convey 
him  to* a  land  of  liberty.  Though  only  four  miles  from  the  nearest  point 
of  Van  Dieman's  Land,  it  was  over  forty  from  the  boat's  point  of  departure, 


MEAGHEB  IN  AMEHICA.  309 

and  it  entailed  a  most  perilous  passage  of  several  hours,  through  a  wild 
sea,  before  a  landing  was  effected  thereon.  On  the  island  a  new  peril  con 
fronted  him. 

The  ship  that  was  to  take  Meagher  off  was  to  have  arrived  off  the 
island  the  morning  after  he  had  landed  there;  but,  after  waiting  until  the 
evening  of  the  third  day  —  and  no  sail  appearing  —  the  boatmen  were  obliged 
to  return  to  the  main  land  for  a  fresh  supply  of  provisions,  leaving  their 
passenger  alone  on  the  desolate,  storm-swept  fragment  of  creation  for  seven 
days  longer,  —  most  of  which  time  he  subsisted  on  sea-bird's  eggs  and  shell 
fish. 

On  the  tenth  day  of  his  lonely  vigil  he  was  startled  by  the  firing  of  a 
gun;  and  on  looking  out  to  sea  he  perceived  a  ship  standing  in  close  to 
the  island  and  shortening  sail.  The  captain  was  in  the  rigging  waving  a 
white  handkerchief.  Rounding  a  point  of  the  island  the  vessel  dropped  her 
anchors,  and  the  passenger  taken  on  board.  In  another  hour  the  Elizabeth 
Thompson,  Captain  Betts,  was  careering  across  the  Pacific  on  her  way  to 
London  —  via  Cape  Horn. 

In  due  time  Meagher  arrived  at  Peruambuco.  from  whence  he  took  pas 
sage  for  the  United  States  in  the  American  brig  Acorn.  He  arrived  in  New 
York  May  26th,  1852,  under  the  protection  of  that  glorious  flag  whose 
supremacy  he  so  nobly  upheld  in  after  years. 


CHAPTER   LI. 


MEAGIIEE   IX   AMERICA. 

•'And  now  began  the  second  part  of  Meagher's  life;  his  American  life.  He  had 
always  admired  and  loved  the  Great  Republic;  the  American  flag  had  generally  floated 
from  the  stern  of  the  "Speranza"  on  Lake  Sorell;  and  he  came  to  this  land  with  the 
ardent  desire  and  resolute  Intention  to  bear  that  flag  aloft  against  all  enemies,  but  espe 
cially  and  particularly  against  our  hereditary  enemy  —  England."  —  From  "  Reminiscences 
of  Thomas  Frauds  Meagher,  by  JOHN  MITCHEL. 

SAVE  Lafayette  alone,  no  foreign-born  visitor  to  this  Republic  was 
ever  accorded  such  a  generous,  hearty,  and  spontaneous  welcome,  as  that 


319  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

given  to  Thomas  Francis  Meagher  on  his  arrival  in  New  York.  For  several 
weeks,  invitations  to  public  receptions  poured  in  upon  him  from  all  quar 
ters  of  the  Union.  They  came  from  State  Legislatures  and  Municipal  author 
ities;  all — on  behalf  of  their  constituents,  the  Sovereign  People  —  tendering 
him  a  Freeman's  welcome  to  Freedom's  Land.  Even  after  it  became  known 
that  he  declined  the  acceptance  of  public  ovations,  he  was  daily  in  receipt 
of  rumerous  letters  of  congratulation  and  welcome,  from  individual  admirers 
of  his  past  career — his  genius,  his  nobiJity  of  heart,  his  efforts  in  behalf 
of  his  country's  liberty,  and  his  indomitable  spirit  under  the  tribulations  he 
endured  for  that  country's  cause. 

But  if  his  advent  among  them  was  a  source  of  such  jubilation  to  the 
free-born  citizens  of  this  "Refuge  of  the  Oppressed,"  it  may  be  imagined 
with  what  intensity  of  passionate  affection  and  triumphant  pride  it  was  hailed 
by  the  children  of  his  own  race,  as  the  heart-felt  "  Th-mk  God!"  was  rev 
erently  breathed  from  the  quivering  lips  of  millions  for  the  restoration  of 
their  best-beloved  brother  —  the  glory  and  pride  of  their  old  Mother  land. 

Since  the  first  rumor  of  his  escape  from  Australia  had  reached  them, 
they  anxiously  waited,  day  after  day,  for  the  confirmation  of  the  report  — 
which,  they  felt,  —  would  eventually  result  in  his  coming  to  take  his  proper 
place  as  the  standard-bearer  of  his  exiled  compatriots,  around  whom  all 
would  hopefully  and  enthusiastically  rally  to  renew  the  "old  fight." 

The  satisfaction  of  those  Irish  exiles  was  all  the  more  exuberant  from 
the  fact  that,  while  Meagher  was  still  at  sea.,  under  the  starry  banner,  a 
"  Memorial  for  the  exercise  of  clemency  towards  the  Irish  exiles,"  was 
presented  to  the  Irish  Lord  Lieutenant  by  a  deputation  headed  by  the  Lord 
Mayor  of  Dublin.  But,  although  this  "beggar's  petition"  was  said  to  be 
signed  by  "  nine  peers,  fifteen  Catholic  Bishops,  nineteen  baronets,  forty-two 
members  of  parliament,  sixty-six  deputy-lieutenants,  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
eight  magistrates,  eleven  high  sheriffs,  a  id  over  five  hundred  dignitaries  and 
clergymen  of  all  denomination?,  and  ten  thousand  other  names,  comprising 
some  of  the  most  distinguis)  ed  men  of  the  country,"  it  was,  nevertheless, 
rejected  in  terms  characterized  as  "needlessly  harsh  and  insulting." 

In  plain  words,  the  British  Viceroy  told  these  self-constituted  insulters  of 
Ireland's  expatriated  patriots,  that  the  objects  of  their  solicitude  "  had  never 
expressed  contrition  fur  their  crime;"  and  he  supplemented  this  piece  of 
information  with  the  stinging  truth  —  that  must  have  made  the  ears  of  the 
fawning  hypocrites  tingle — that,  —  "many  who  now  advocated  their  pardon, 
woulu  turn  from  them  with  abhorrence  if  they  had  not  been  prevented  from 


MEAGHER    IN  AMERICA.  311 

carrying  their  designs  into  execution  by  the  defensive  measures  of  the  Gov 
ernment."* 

Well!  in  despite  of  British  Queen  or  Irish  Flunkey,  here  — among  the 
men  of  his  race  and  heart  — stood  one  self-en Irauchised,  unrepentant  scorner 
of  tyrant,  hypocrite,  and  slave. 

For   which   the   "  Lord  in   Heaven   be   praised ! " 

How  THE  NEWS  WAS  ANNOUNCED  IN  ENGLAND. 

As  an  instance  of  the  despicable  shifts  to  which  the  organs  of  the 
British  government  could  resort  to  minimize  the  importance  of  Meagher's 
arrival  in  America,  it  was  recorded  in  the  newspapers  of  the  day,  that,  — 
when  the  vessel  w^hich  brought  the  account  of  the  patriot's  arrival  in 
New  York  had  reached  Liverpool,  it  was  telegraphed  to  the  London  Times, 
and  published  in  large  capital  letters  in  that  paper,  that  "No  notice,  of 
any  moment  was  taken  of  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  and  that  he  was  only 
waited  on  by  a  few  obscure  individuals ! " 

Even  thus  sugar-coated,  the  bitter  pill  must  have  been  swallowed  with 
a  horrible  grimace  by  the  bucolic  Britisher.  How  it  agreed  with  him  when 
its  true  inwardness  was  manifested  by  his  rising  gorge,  may  be  well  imag 
ined  by  those  who  know  the  "nature  of  the  beast." 

PER  CONTRA — How  IRELAND  VIEWED  IT. 

• 

The  joy  experienced  by  the  Irish  at  home  at  the  news  of  Meagher's 
safe  arrival  in  America,  can  only  be  imagined  by  those  thoroughly  familiar 
with  their  sensitive  nature,  and  the  place  which-  he  occupied  in  their  affec 
tion;?.  They  could  not  give  full  vent  to  the  exuberance  of  their  spirits  after 
the  manner  of  their  countrymen  in  America.  They  could  not  throng  around 
him  in  green-coated  battalions,  with  flashing  bayonets  and  rolling  drums, 
but  they  loved  him  as  well  as  their  enfranchised  brothers,  and  they  gloried 


*  This  exhibition  of  Impotent  malevolence  on  the  part  of  the  arrogant  representative 
of  "her  gracious  Majestv,"  had  Its  parallel  — twenty  years  later  — in  the  British  Parlia 
ment,  on  the  occasion  of  the  debate  on  a  motion  for  the  release  of  the  military  Fenian  con 
victs  who  were  transported  to  Australia.  Then,  also,  — true  to  their  established  policy  in 
dealing  with  the  "Irish  Enemn,"  —  ihe  crowu  olliclals  —  gloating  in  savage  triumph  over 
tht:  suff  rings  <>t  the  men  who  (they  fancied,)  were  still  in  their  power, — contemptuously 
refused  to  relax  ti.eir  hold  on  their  prey  — and  this  at  the  very  hour  when,  by  the  Inter 
position  of  Providence  —  and  the  devotion  of  liberty-loving  American  citizens— their  res 
cued  victims  were  being  joylully  welcomed— as  was  Meagher —  to  the  "Land  of  the  Free!" 


31-2  MEMOIES  OF  GEN    THOMAS  FRANCIS   MEAGHEE. 

in   the  hope   that  the  day  might  come  in   God's    good   time,    when   they,   too, 
might  greet  him   in  Freedom's  panoply  — 

"  The  Green   Flag  flying  o'er  them." 

The  following  from   the  Nation  —  the   true   exponent  of  the  popular  heart 

—  and    from    the    pen   of    a  patriot   tried   and   true   as   Meagher   himself  —  will 
serve    to    convey, — as   far   as   words   could   do   so,   the   sentiments   of  the  mil 
lions   of  exultant   Celts   who  still   clung  to  their   native   soil,  and  to  the  hope 
of  once 'again  reclaiming   their   God-given   inheritance:  — 

"  MEAGHER  IN  AMERICA. 

"After  a  weary  voyage  of  four  months'  duration,  Thomas  F.  Meagher 
is  at  length  under  the  shadow  and  protection  of  the  Flag  of  Washington. 
Heaven  has  blessed  and  prospered  his  plans,  and.  conducted  him  in  saiety 
and  in  honor  to  the  free  soil  of  America. 

"  His  dashing  escape  from  the  penal  colony  reads  like  the  achievement 
of  a  cavalier  of  old.  He  did  not,  as  the  snarling  retainers  of  the  English 
government  allege,  compromise  his  parole  in  the  most  trivial  particular. 

"  One  scarcely  knows  whether  to  admire  the  more  the  bold  and  rapid 
execution  of  Meagher's  project,  or  the  chivalrous  fidelity  of  the  noble  Irish 
man  who  refused  to  lay  hands  of  outrage  on  the  glorious  young  patriot. 
What  a  true  heart  was  it  that  beat  Bunder  the  uniform  of  the  British  police, 
and  stubbornly  defied  authority  when  it  called  on  him  to  commit  a  crime 
against  his  country !  It  was  the  same  spirit  which  prompted  the  Tipperary 
peasants  in  Clonmel  Court-house  to  refuse  evidence  against  the  traitors  on 
their  trial,  which  in  the  far  Antipodes  animated  this  gallant  mutineer,  who 
would  not  violate  the  person  of  '  young  Meagher,'  as  he  fondly  called  him. 

'•Meagher  in  America!     What   a  triumph,    what  happiness   in   the   words! 

"Oh!  many  a  time  since  the  news  of  his  flight  first  reached  us  have  we 
been  sick  at  heart,  longing  to  receive  this  blessed  message.  Many  a  time 
have  we  with  streaming  eyes  looked  up  to  the  throne  of  God,  and  asked 
where  was  our  dear  brother?  And  now  that  there  is  an  end  to  all  anxiety 

—  now   that   he  has  escaped  the  jealous  searches  of  his  gaolers   and  the  mys 
terious     dangers     of    the    seas  —  now    that    he    is    the    guest    of    freemen    and 
housed    amongst    his   own   countrymen  —  we   can    scarcely    write   for   excess   of 
joy ;   for   the  heart-strings   of   ourselves   and  of  our   country   are   wound  about 
this  illustrious   son   of  Ireland. 

"Our  dear  brother!  For  three  years  and  a  half  he  was  a  chained  and 
condemned  criminal,  in  the  hands  of  those  whose  fatal  power  decrees  love 


MEAGHER  IN  AMERICA.  313 

of  Ireland  to  be  a  mortal  and  unpardonable  sin.  For  three  years  and  a 
half  he  was  subjected  to  all  the  restraints  and  ignominy  of  a  criminal's 
fate,  dead  iu  law  to  all  privilege,  to  all  society,  an  out-cast  and  a  felon. 
Law  had  no  pity  for  his  youth;  justice  had  no  mercy  for  his  glowing  ge- 
iiius.  He  had  loved  Ireland,  he  had  pleaded  and  striven  for  Ireland,  and 
they  judged  him  a  reprobate,  and  banished  him  to  the  companionship  of  the 
demoniacal  sinners  against  man  and  heaven.  But  the  God  of  martyrs  and 
of  Ireland  has  plucked  him  from  their  grasp,  and  set  him  up  before  the 
world  again  as  a  hero  and  an  apostle. 

"  Meagher's  arrival  in  America  opens  a  new  page  in  the  history  of  Ire- 
laud.  We  conceive  a  great  career  for  him  under  the  flag  of  Washington. 
He  does  not  go  to  the  great  Republic  as  a  political  notoriety,  to  drama 
tise  and  win  idle  cheers.  He  does  not  go  there  as  a  political  speculator, 
greedy  of  a  noisy  welcome  and  of  the  subsidies  of  a  cosmopolitan  patriot 
ism.  He  does  not  go  there  to  clamor  about  his  personal  wrongs,  and  to 
sacrificL-  his  personal  dignity  to  rhetoric  and  vanity.  He  does  not  go  there 
to  rush  upon  the  public  stage,  and  die  out  exhausted  in  a  month.  He  goes 
to  fulfil  a  great  destiny.  He  goes  to  work  with  a  man's  strength,  and  to 
achieve  for  himself  the  position  which  solid  virtues  and  great  abilities  con 
quer  in  every  free  state  as  their  prerogative,  lie  goes  to  combine  and 
sway  his  countrymen  by  the  spells  of  his  glorious  eloquence,  and  to  renew 
amongst  them,  in  a  foreign  land,  the  memories  and  traditions  of  Ireland, 
which  dwell  in  his  o\vu  poetic  and  heroic  soul  with  love  and  reverence 

"  Strong  as    the  pillar  towers, 
And  deep  as  the  holy  wells." 

"He  goes  as  the  type  of  the  Old  Nation,  to  its  exiles  and  its  lovers,  so 
they  may  sit  down  once  more  amongst  their  Household  Gods;  to  be  their 
legitimate  chieftain  and  apostle.  He  goes  to  lead  and  amalgamate  the 
Irish  race  in  America,  till  slow  and  patient  discipline  and  God-sent  oppor 
tunity  give  them  a  potent  voice  in  the  destiny  of  Ireland. 

u  We  call  on  the  Irish  hi  America  to  recognize  in  Meagher's  arrival  among 
them  the  opening  of  a  new  era  for  Ireland  and  themselves. 

"And  we  cill  on  the  great  Republic  to  welcome  Thomas  Meagher  as  it 
welcomed  Addis  Emmet.  The  wonderful  Orator,  whom  we  have  lost,  is  now 
its  citizen,  and  it  will  honor  itself  iu  honoring  uiui." 


314  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS   FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 


CHAPTER   LIL 


A  HAPPY   REUXIOX. 

And  doth  not  a  meeting   like  this  make  amends 
For  ail  the  long  years  I've  been  wandering  away? 

MOORE. 

MEAGIIER'S  first  and  warmest  greeting  in  Xew  York  was  from  his  per 
sonal  friends  and  compatriots  —  the  refugees  of  "48 —  then  resident  in  that 
city  and  Brooklyn.  Chief  among  these  were  Eichard  O'Gorman  and  John 
Dillon,  Thomas  Devin  Reilly,  Michael  Doheny,  Doctor  Thomas  Antisell,  Jo 
seph  Breunan  and  John  Savage.  Every  succeeding  day  brought  others  of 
his  old  Confederates  —  "men  of  the  rank  and  file,"  to  welcome  the  universal 
favorite  of  all  —  and  give  and  take,  a  fraternal  grasp.  With  them,  too, 
came  many  of  the  best  men  of  their  race  in  America  —  men  who  admired 
their  young  countryman  as  much  as  any  —  though  they  had  never  seen  hi» 
face  before.  Among  these  latter,  Captain  Michael  Phelan  was  the  foremost. 
He  was  then  one  of  the  best  known  Irishmen  in  America,  and  was  esteemed, 
alike  by  his  fellow-citizens  of  native  or  foreign  birth.  As  one  of  the  chief 
founders  of  the  first  Irish  regiment  raised  in  America  —  the  old  Ninth  Xew 
York,  Captain  Phelan  was  particularly  admired  by  the  military  element  of 
his  fellow  countrymen,  and  by  none  more  than  the  exiled  Confederates,  with 
most  of  whom  he  wa^  on  terms  of  close  intimacy. 

On  the  day  Mr.  Meagher  arrived  in  Xew  York,  Michael  Phelan  waited 
on  him,  and  after  stating  who  he  was,  and  welcoming  his  illustrious  coun 
tryman  to  the  "Land  of  the  Free,"  he  placed  his  pocket-book,  containing 
all  his  available  funds,  in  Meagher's  hand,  delieately  requesting  him  to  make 
use  of  its  contents,  until  he  could  hear  from  his  friends  in  Ireland.  He 
of  course  surmised  that,  owing  to  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  Meagher's 
escape,  he  was  likely  to  be  in  need  of  temporary  assistance,  and  he  pre 
ferred  that  it  should  come  from  "one  of  his  own"  rather  than  any  other, 
and  — 

"Ourselves  by  ourselves  be  befriended!" 

Meagher.  however,  assured  him  that  he  was  in  no  immediate  need  of 
funds,  and  therefore  he  could  not  avail  himself  of  his  generous  offer,  but 


A    HAPPY    REUNION.  315 


that  he  should  ever  remember  it  as  one  of  the  most  gratifying  incidents  of 
his  life.  From  thence  forth  the  most  intimate  friendship  existed  between 
those  two  noble-hearted  patriots  —  until  they  were  severed  by  death. 

After  landing  Meagher  sought  his  friend,  Devin  Reilly,  and  it  was  with 
him,  at  his  pleasant  little  home  in  Brooklyn,  that  he  passed  the  first  days 
of  his  life  in  America.  And  what  joyous  days  these  were.  What  jovial,  affec 
tionate,  true-hearted  comrades  gathered  around  him  — each  recounting  his 
experiences  since  they  last  met  in  the  dear  old  land,  and  all  exulting  in 
the  bright  hopes  of  that  land's  future  that  his  presence  amongst  them  inspired. 
From  the  animated  description  of  those  cheery  reunions  given  me,  iu  after 
years,  by  one  of  the  participants  —  John  Savage— .1  can,  in  fancy,  picture  the 
scene;  I  can  again,  as  in  life,  see  those  dear  familiar  faces  illuminated  by 
their  soul-speaking  eyes  —  sparkling  with  fun,  or  flashing  with  passion  —  as 
the  topics  of  the  moment  moved  their  impulsive  Celtic  natures.  For  the 
moment  Meagher  might  imagine  himself  in  that  little  cottage  by  Lake 
Sorell,  surrounded  by  his  exiled  compatriots  —  when,  in  the  flood-tide  of 
their  exuberant  spirits  they  forgot  in  each  other's  society  the  destiny  that 
separated  them  from  the  rest  of  the  world.  True,  the  illusion  was  of  brief 
duration,  and,  when  it  was  past,  the  cloud  that  hung  perpetually  over  their 
spirits  loomed  all  the  denser  for  the  sun-ray  that  momentarily  pierced 
through  the  gloom.  Now,  however,  in  the  society  of  comrades  as  fond  and 
true  as  those  he  left  benind  him  at  the  Antipodes,  that  joyous  young  heart 
could  revel  in  the  blessed  sunlight  of  Freedom,  in  the  happy  consciousness 
that  the  il cloud" — which  cast  its  baleful  shadow  on  his  life's  path  —  was 
dissipated  for  evermore. 

[NOTE.  —  John  Savage  —  who  first  became  known  in  Irish  revolutionary 
history  as  one  of  the  founders  and  contributors  of  the  Irish  Tribune,  left 
Dublin  for  the  South  after  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  and 
at  the  close  of  July,  joined  John  O'Mahony  in  the  neighborhood  of  Carrick- 
on-Suir.  What  the  latter  thought  of  his  young  recruit  may  be  learned  from 
the  following  extract  taken  from  a  letter  to  Meagher  published  in  the 
Irish  Xtics  of  September  20th,  1856:  — 

(Speaking   of  his   associates   iu   the   movement  —  the  writer   says)  : 

•'  1  have  not  yet  learned  to  draw  a  line  between  their  exertions  and 
my  own,  so  closely  were  they  interwoven  during  the  short  time  we  were 
fellow-laborers  in  the  cause  of  Irish  revolution. 

"•  Foremost  among  my  fellow-workers  was  our  friend  John  Savage.  Him 
I  met  tor  the  first  time  as  he  was  looking  for  you,  a  few  days  after  that 
night  of  gloom  when  you  and  I  last  parted  with  despairing  hearts  upon  the 


316  MEMOIES   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHER. 

Bide  of  Sliabh  na  mon.  From  that  time  until  all  our  hopes  were  shattered,  John 
Savage  never  flinched  from  the  post  of  danger,  nor  was  any  duty  left  de 
pendent  upon  him  left  undone.  If  the  truth,  fixedness  of  purpose,  untiring 
work,  and  buoyant  enthusiasm  of  any  one  man  could  have  made  up  for 
the  disadvantages  resulting  from  youthful  inexperience,  want  of  previous 
political  fame,  and  of  not  being  known  iu  the  locality  where  he  labored, 
could  then  have  retrieved  our  cause,  John  Savage  would  have  done  it.  He 
participated  in  all  my  plans,  and  attended  all  my  midnight  councils.  He 
shared  with  me  the  bivouac  upon  the  bleak  hills,  and  partook  of  my  hard 
bed  in  the  rock-bound  grot  of  Ballyquirkeen;  or,  as  we  laid  side  by  side 
in  some  fragiant  meadow  by  its  banks,  we  listened  to  the  Suir's  wild 
lullaby  singing  us  to  sleep.'' 

During  his  subsequent  career  in  the  United  States,  where  his  genius 
had  free  scope,  John  Savage  won  his  meed  of  fame,  as  a  poet,  essayist, 
dramatist,  orator  and  patriot.  He  was  admired  by  the  public  for  his  acquire 
ments  and  rectitude,  and  beloved  by  his  associates  for  his  genial  heart  and 
social  spirit.  Known  to  men  of  all  classes  in  the  social  scale,  he  made  hun 
dreds  of  personal  friends  and  no  personal  enemies.  He  was  the  recipient  of 
much  well-deserved  praise;  but  he  (rightly)  valued  the  above  testimony  to 
his  youthful  patriotism  above  all  the  rest  combined.  When  his  biography 
is  written  it  will  constitute  the  brightest  gem  in  his  fame's  coronal,  for  it 
was  the  heart-offering  of  the  man  whose  praise  he  most  esteemed,  and 
whose  character  he  most  revered  among  his  compatriots.] 

MEETING  THE   LEADER. 

At  the  time  when  the  intelligence  of  Meagher's  escape  from  Australia 
reached  America,  I  was  sojourning  in  a  retired  village  in  north-eastern  New 
York.  I  did  not  hear  of  his  arrival  in  the  United  States  for  several  days 
after  that  event,  when  a  shop-mate,  who  had  been  to  Troy,  brought  me  the 
welcome  tidings — together  with  a  newspaper  containing  the  details  of  the  pro 
ceedings  in  New  York  city  consequent  on  the  hero's  landing.  Of  cour-e  I 
lost  no  time  in  setting  out  to  meet  our  "Young  Leader"  —  now  that  I  was 
certain  to  find  him  ai  last.  On  my  anival  in  the  city  I  went  to  the  law 
office  of  Dillon  and  O'Gorrnan  in  the  first  place,  with  the  two-fold  purpose 
of  paying  my  respects  to  the  latter  gentleman  —  whom  I  knew  personally 
as  President  of  the  Swift  Confederate  Club,  in  Dublin,  —  and  to  learn  from 
him  where  I  might  find  Mr.  Meagher. 

Mr.    O'Gorman    gave    me    a  cordial   reception,    and   we  had  an     interesting 
talk  over   the   past  vicissitudes   and    future   prospects    of  the  cause   dearest   to 


A    HAPPY    HE  UNION.  317 


our  hearts,  lie  told  me  that  Mr.  Meagher  was  then  staying  at  Mr.  Dillon's 
residence  in  Brooklyn,  and  gave  me  the  address. 

Or.  my  calling  at  the  hou*p,  I  was  received  by  a  handsome  and  pleasant 
Irish  servant  girl,  who,  in  response  to  my  enquiry  for  Mr.  Meagher,  in 
formed  me  that  he  was  then  out  for  a  short  walk,  but  would  be  back 
soon.  On  her  invitation  I  took  a  seat  to  await  his  coming,  and  she  kept 
me  company.  She  was  most  enthusiastic  in  praise  of  Mr.  Meagher  —  as  was 
natural  lor  an  Irish  girl  to  be— and  it  didn't  take  her  long  to  find 'that  I 
coincided  in  her  opinions  iu  his  regard,  so  we  became  as  familiar  in  a  few 
minutes  as  if  we  were  old  acquaintances,  and  she  questioned  me  as  to  my 
previous  knowledge  of  the  "  young  gentleman,"  where  I  had  come  from, 
&c.  Our  dialogue  was  something  as  follows :  — 

"An1   did   you  know   Mr.    Meagher  in   Ireland?" 

"I  did!" 

"  Were  you   living  in  the  same  place  with  him   at  home?" 

"Not  exactly;  we  were  born  in  the  same  county  —  but  more  than  thirty 
miles  from  each  other.'' 

"An'   so  you're  from   the  county   Waterford,    too?" 

"Yes!    but  it  wasn't   there   1   met   Mr.    Meagher,    but  in   Dublin." 

"Are.  you  long  out  in  this  country?  and  where  did  you  come  from 
now  ?  " 

"About  two  years  and  a  half, — and  I  came  from  a  place  called  Shu- 
shan,  in  this  State." 

"I    never  hear   tell  of   that   place    before  — is   it   far  from   here?" 

"About   two   hundred   miles,.  I   think. 

"Two  hundred  miles!  An'  did  you  come  all  the  ways  a'  purpose  to 
see  Mr.  Meagher  here  in  Brooklyn?" 

"I  did!  but  sure,  didn't  he  come  nearly  a  hundred  times  as  far  to  get  to 
Brooklyn,  where  I  can  see  him?" 

"That's  true;  but  for  all,  you  must  think  a  deal  of  him  to  come  so 
far  to  see  him. —But  tell  me  — maybe  you're  one  of  the  boys  that  had  to 
run  away  from  Ireland  after  Mr.  Meagher  left  it!" 

"Yes!  I'm  one  of  them  'boys,'  an'  one  that  would  be  glad  to  run 
back  to  Ireland  with  him  again ! " 

"Wisha!  Give  me  the  hand  for  that;  — sure  I  wouldn't  doubt  you;  and 
I  bet  'tis  Mr.  Meagher  will  be  glad  to  see  you!  — But  here's  himself  com 
ing  now:"  And  she  ran  to  the  door,  which  she  had  no  sooner  opened 
than  she  exclaimed  :  — 

"Oh!    Mr.   Meagher,    I'm    so    glad    you    come.     There's   a   young   man,   an 


318  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

old   friend  of  yours  from   home,    waiting  for    you,    an'   he  came   two  hundred 
miles   to  see  you;   an1" 

But  I  didn't  wait  any  longer  —  the  girl's  joyous  light-heartedness  was  con 
tagious,  and  we  met  at  the  entrance  to  the  room  with  a  simultaneous  burst 
of  laughter  and  a  clasp  of  hands,  as  Meagher  exclaimed  — 

"  So  it's  you   are  here !     I'm   glad   to   meet  you,    my   boy ! " 

"  Sure  1  knew  you  would,  sir,''  responded  the  girl  as  she  retired  laugh 
ing,  and  left  us  to  ourselves. 

Meagher's  personal  appearance  at  that  interview  has  left  a  more  vivid 
impression  on  my  memory  than  it  did  on  any  other  occasion  either  before 
or  since.  When  I  knew  him  in  Ireland,  he  was  a  handsome,  well-built, 
young  fellow  with  genuine  Celtic  ff-atures,  laughing  blue  eyes,  and  dark 
brown,  rather  curly,  hair.  Xow  his  form  was  much  more  robust  in  appear 
ance,  and  his  features  bronzed  by  exposure  to  the  southern  sun,  and  the 
sea  breezes  during  his  circumnavigation  of  the  globe  — looked  more  manly 
and  resolute.  His  carriage  was  as  graceful  and  his  step  as  light,  firm,  and 
elastic,  as  when  I  had  seen  him  walk  the  streets  of  Dublin  in  company 
with  his  most  intimate  associates — Richard  O'Gorman  or  Patrick  J.  Smith. 
With  the  exception  that,  on  this  occasion,  he  wore  a  broad-leafed  straw  hat 
—  his  dress  was  nearly  alike  in  style  to  that  he  usually  wore  in  Ireland  — 
a  dark  frock  coat,  light  vest,  and  grey  trousers.  His  youthful  light-heart- 
edness  and  tone  of  voice  had  undergone  no  perceptible  change  with  the 
vicissitudes  of  his  fortunes.  Frank  and  free,  he  was  his  own  old  self  — 
"  TOM.  MEAGHEK  ! "  —  the  best-beloved  of  his  race  and  generation. 

After  congratulating  him  on  his  escape,  and  trying  to  give  expression  to 
my  exultation  therefor,  I,  candidly,  told  him  —  what  I  always  felt  —  that,  for 
all  he  endured  he  may  thank  himself,  —  as,  had  he  not  allowed  himself  to 
be  swayed  from  his  own  convictions  on  the  question  of  rescuing  John 
Mitchel,  by  his  colleagues  of  the  Council,  the  subsequent  history  of  '48 
would  be  very  different  from  what  it  was. 

"They  well  knew,''  —  I  added,  —  "that  you  meant  to  fight  them,  and 
they  knew  also,  that  if  you  called  on  the  Clubs  to  follow  you  they  would 
have  done  so  enthusiastically  —  regardless  of  their  (the  Council's)  action  — 
or  inaction.  They  calculated  the  chances  —  and  deeming  them  desperate,  they. 
prudently,  resolved  not  to  run  the  risk  —  but  they  also  shrank  from  the  dis 
agreeable  duty  of  themselves  facing  their  constituents  in  their  several  club- 
rooms,  and  neutralizing  the  teachings  they  had  been  inculcating  for  the  pre 
ceding  three  months  —  and  so  they  appealed  to  you  —  they  threw  the  responsi 
bility  on  you  of  dashing  down  the  hopes  you  had  done  so  much  to  raise  —  or 


HE  SPOUSE    TO  AMERICA'S    WELCOME.  319 

of  accepting  the  alternative.  —  on  your  own  shoulders  — of  what  they  feared 
would  be  an  overwhelming  disaster.  You  yielded  your  convictions  —  less  to 
their  arguments  than  to  their  beseeching?,  and  in  doing  so,  proved  the 
club-meu's  devotion  to  you  by  a  harder  test  than  if  you  had  —  in  conso 
nance  with  your  ovvu  wishes  and  theirs  —  asked  them  to  follow  you  to  the 
storming  of  Xewgate  or  Dublin  Castle." 

His  reply  showed  that  he  concurred  in  my  opinion,  for  he  earnestly 
exclaimed :  — 

'You  may  be  sure,  my  boy,  that  if  it  was  to  be  done  over  again,  I 
would  not  do  it." 

From  retrospections  of  lost  opportunities,  we  turned  to  a  contemplation 
of  the  bright  prospects  of  the  future  of  the  "old  cause"  —  consequent  upon 
his  arrival  in  America.  For,  there  was  no  denying  the  self-evident  fact, 
that,  on  him  were  centred  the  hopes  of  his  exiled  fellow-countrymen  on 
this  continent,  to  unite  them  in  one  solid,  organized  body  for  the  attainment 
of  Ireland's  freedom. 

He  expressed  his  determination  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  aid  in  carry 
ing  out  that  object,  as  soon  as  he  could  see  his  way.  At  the  time,  he  was 
greatly  encouraged  by  the  success  which  attended  the  efforts  of  his  old  asso 
ciates  in  creating  Irish  military  organizations  having  that  ultimate  purpose 
in  view,  and  would  heartily  cooperate  in  the  work.  After  a  long  and  agree 
able  interview  my  first  meeting  in  America  with  our  "Young  Leader"  ter 
minated,  with  an  understanding  that  we  should  soon  see  each  other  again. 


CHAPTER    LIII. 


HEAGIIER'S   RESPONSE  TO   AMERICA'S    WELCOME. 

SOON  after  his  arrival  in  America,  a  committee  from  the  Corporation  of 
New  York  waited  on  Mr.  Meagher,  at  the  Astor  House,  aud  presented  him 
with  a  certified  copy  of  the  resolutions  adopted  by  both  Boards  of  the 


320  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

Common    Council,   requesting    his    acceptance    of    a    public    reception,    and  the 
hospitalities   of  the   City  of  New  York. 

Mr.   Meagher  delivered    the  following  reply :  — 

u Gentlemen:  —  Had  the  effort  in  which  I  lost  my  freedom  been  success 
ful,  the  honors  now  tendered  would  not  surprise  me.  But  it  was  otherwise. 
Far  from  realizing,  it  obscured,  the  hopes  which  accompanied  and  inspired 
it  — ending  suddenly  in  discomfiture  and  defeat.  This  the  wide  world  knows. 
This  you  yourselves  must  inwardly  admit,  though  the  goodness  of  your  ua~ 
turp  will  seal  your  lips  to  the  admission,  being  fearful  of  the  disparage 
ment  it  would  imply.  The  gratitude  of  a  people  is  most  bounteous.  It  is 
quick  to  appreciate,  to  encourage,  to  reward.  Never  slow  or  stinted  in  the 
measure  it  pours  out,  its  fault  is  to  be  too  precipitate  and  profuse.  Esti 
mating  merit  not  by  the  severe  standard  of  success,  it  takes  motives  into 
consideration,  regardless  of  the  fortune  which  attends  them,  and  for  what 
ever  sacrifices  they  have  entailed,  awards  a  great  equivalent. 

11  In  this  the  gratitude  of  a  people  differs  from  the  gratitude  of  Kings. 
With  the  latter,  success  is  an  essential  condition  of  excellence.  Pensions, 
Knightly  decorations,  orders  of  nobility,  these  are  given  by  kings  in  ex 
change  only  for  the  trophies  which  decorate  their  halls,  or  the  acquisitions 
which  widen  the  surface  of  their  dominion. 

u  Not  so  with  a  people,  as  I  have  said.  They  do  not  barter  and  econ 
omise  their  gifts.  Whatever  the  result,  be  the  motive  upright,  be  the  deed 
honorable,  and  their  favois  are  forthcoming.  Moreover,  it  sometimes  hap 
pens  that  where  disaster  has  most  grievously  befallen,  there  their  sympa 
thies  are  most  evoked,  and  their  treasures  most  plenteously  bestowed.  — 
This  it  is  which  explains  the  proceedings,  it<  my  regard  of  the  noble  city 
you  represent.  I  have  sought  to  serve  my  country,  and  been  anxious  to 
contribute  to  her  freedom.  This  I  shall  not  assume  the  modesty  to  deny. 
Long  before  I  mingled  in  the  strife  of  politics,  it  was  my  ambition  to  be 
identified  with  the  destiny  of  my  country  —  to  share  her  glory,  if  glory 
were  decreed  her  —  to  share  her  suffering  and  humiliation,  if  such  should 
be  her  portion. 

"For  the  little  I  have  done  and  suffered  I  have  had  my  reward  in  the 
penalty  assigned  me.  To  be  the  last  and  humblest  name  in  the  litany  which 
contains  the  names  of  EMMET  and  FITZGERALD  —  names  which  waken  notes  of 
heroism  in  the  coldest  heart,  and  stir  to  lofty  purposes  the  most  sluggish 
mind  —  is  an  honor  which  compensates  me  fully  for  the  privations  I  have 
endured.  Any  recompense,  of  a  more  joyous  nature,  it  would  ill  become 
me  to  receive.  Whilst  my  country  remains  in  sorrow  and  subjection,  it 


RESPONSE    TO    AMERICA'S    WELCOME.  321 

would  be  indelicate  of  me  to  participate  in  the  festivities  you  propose. 
When  she  lifts  her  head,  and  nerves  her  arm  for  a  bolder  struggle  —  when 
she  goes  forth,  like  Miriam,  with  song  and  timbrel  to  celebrate  her  victory 
—  I,  to,  shall  lift  up  my  head,  and  join  in  the  hymn  of  freedom.  Till  then 
the  retirement  I  seek  will  best  accord  with  the  Jove  I  bear  her.  and  the 
sadness  which  her  present  fate  inspires. 

"  Nor  do  I  forget  the  companions  of  my  exile.  My  heart  is  with  them 
at  this  hour,  and  shares  the  solitude  in  which  they  dwell.  The  freedom 
that  has  been  restored  to  me  is  embittered  by  the  recollection  of  their  cap 
tivity.  While  they  are  in  prison  a  shadow  rests  upon  my  spirit,  and  the 
thoughts  that  might  otherwise  be  free,  throb  heavily  within  me.  It  is 
painful  for  me  to  speak.  I  should  feel  happy  in  being  permitted  to 
be  silent.  For  these  reasons,  you  will  not  feel  displeased  with  me  for 
declining  the  honors  you  solicit  me  to  accept.  Did  I  esteem  them  less,  I 
should  not  consider  myself  so  unworthy,  nor  decline  so  conclusively  to 
enjoy  them.  The  privileges  of  so  eminent  a  city  should  be  sacred  to  those 
who  personify  a  great  and  living  cause  —  a  past  full  of  fame,  and  a  future 
lull  of  hope  —  and  whose  names  are  prominent  and  imperishable. 

"  It  pains  me  deeply  to  make  this  reply,  being  sensible  of  the  enthusi 
asm  which  glows  around  me,  and  the  eagerness  with  which  a  public  oppor 
tunity  of  meeting  me  has  been  awaited.  I  know  it  will  disappoint  a  great 
anxiety,  but  the  propriety  of  the  determination  I  have  come  to  is  proved 
by  the  inefficiency  of  this  consideration  to  overcome  me. 

"  1  know,  too,  that  as  it  grieves  me,  it  will  grieve  others,  and  that, 
perhaps,  the  motives  that  have  led  to  it  may  be  misunderstood,  misconstrued, 
and  censured.  But  I  am  confident  that,  after  a  little  while  the  public  judg 
ment  will  sanction  the  act  which  a  due  regard  to  what  I  owe  my  country, 
my  companions,  and  myself,  seriously  dictates.  Yet,  so  far  as  your  invita 
tion  recognizes  the  fidelity  with  which  I  adhered,  and  still  adhere,  to  the 
good  and  glorious  cause,  be  assured  that  it  has  not  been  exaggerated  or 
misplaced. 

"The  feelings  and  convictions  which  influenced  my  career  in  Ireland, 
have  undergone  no  change.  Still,  as  ever,  1  perceive  within  my  country  the 
faculties  that  fit  her  for  a  useful  and  honorable  position,  and  believing 
that  they  require  only  to  be  set  in  motion  to  prove  successful,  I  still  would 
prompt  her  to  put  them  forth.  Besides,  there  is  within  me  a  pride  that 
cannot  be  subdued — there  is  within  me  an  ambition  that  cannot  be  appeased. 
1  desire  to  have  a  country  which  shall  work  out  a  fortune  of  her  own,  and 
depend  no  longer  for  subsistence  on  the  charity  of  other  nations.  1  desire 

21 


322  MEMOISS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

to  have  a  country  which  I  can  point  to  with  exultation — whose  prosperity 
shall  be  my  life  —  whose  glory  shall  be  my  guerdon.  I  desire  to  have  a 
country  which  shall  occupy  a  beneficent  position  in  the  world,  and  by  her 
1ndustry,  intellect,  integrity  and  courage,  shall  contribute,  iu  community 
with  all  free  nations,  to  the  common  happiness  and  grandeur  of  humanity. 

"Hopes  may  have  darkened,  but  the  destiny,  to  which  I  would  see  my 
country  lifted,  is  before  me  still  —  a  height,  like  that  of  Thabor,  crowned 
with  an  eternal  sun.  It  is  a  bold  ambition,  but  in  this  fine  country  I  could 
have  none  other.  The  moment  we  set  our  foot  upon  her  shore,  we  behold 
the  offspring  of  freedom  —  the  energy,  the  thrift,  the  opulence  to  which  she 
has  given  birth  —  and,  at  a  glance,  we  comprehend  her  f ruitfulness,  utility, 
and  splendor.  We  behold  the  wonders  she  has  wrought  —  the  deformed  trans 
formed —  the  crippled  Colony  springing  into  the  robust  proportions  of  an 
Empire  which  Alexander  might  have  sighed  to  conquer  —  the  adventurous 
spirit  of  her  sons  compensating  by  its  rapidity,  in  little  more  than  half  a 
century,  for  the  thousands  of  years  in  which  the  land  lay  still  in  the  shadow 
of  the  ancient  forests  —  we  behold  all  this,  and  the  worship  of  our  youth 
becomes  more  impassioned  and  profound. 

"  To  this  land  I  came,  as  an  outcast,  to  seek  an  honorable  home  —  as 
an  outlaw  to  claim  the  protection  of  a  flag  that  is  inviolable.  By  one  of 
the  wisest  and  mildest  of  the  ancient  legislators  it  was  decreed  that  all 
those  who  were  driven  forever  from  their  own  country  should  be  admitted 
iato  the  citizenship  of  Athens.  On  the  same  ground,  in  virtue  of  the  sen 
tence  of  perpetual  banishment  which  excludes  me  from  my  native  land,  I 
sought  a  quiet  sanctuary  in  the  home  of  WASHINGTON. 

"To  no  other  land  could  the  heart,  which  has  felt  the  rude  hand  of 
tyranny,  so  confidently  turn  for  a  serene  repose.  Long  may  she  prosper  — 
gathering  into  the  bosom  of  her  great  family,  the  children  of  all  nations  — 
adding  to  her  territory,  not  by  the  sword  of  the  soldier  or  the  subtlety  of 
the  statesman,  but  by  the  diffusion  of  her  principles,  and  the  consonance 
of  her  simple  laws  and  institutions,  with  the  good  sense  and  purer  aspira 
tions  ot  mankind. 

"  Long  may  she  prosper  —  each  year  adding  to  her  stock  of  strength  and 
dignity,  and  wisdom,  and  high  above  her  countless  fleets  and  cities,  even  to  the 
last  generation  may  the  monument  of  her  liberty  be  descried!  In  the  darkest 
storm  which  shakes  the  thrones  and  dynasties  of  the  old  world,  may  it 
stand  unscathed.  In  the  darkest  night  which  falls  upon  the  arms  of  a 
struggling  people,  may  it  shine  forth  like  the  cross  in  the  wilderness,  and 
be  to  them  an  emblem  of  hope  and  a  signal  of  salvation." 


CITIZEN  SOLDIEES  HONOE    THE  EXILE.  323 


CHAPTER   LIV. 


THE  CITIZEN  SOLDIERS  HONOR  THE  EXILE. 

The  tribune's  tongue  and  poet'8  pen 
May  sow  the  seed  In  prostrate  men; 
But  'tis  the  soldier's    sword   alone 
Can  reap  the  crop  BO  bravely  sown  I 
No  more  I'll  sing  nor  idly  pine, 
But  train  my  soul  to    lead  a  line  — 
A  soldier's  life's  the  life  for  me  — 
A  soldier's  death,  so  Ireland's  Iree! 

DAVIS. 

THOUGH,  for  the  reasons  set  forth  in  his  reply  to  the  addr^s  from  the 
civic  authorities  of  New  York,  Mr.  Meagher  saw  fit  to  decnue  public  ova 
tions  in  general,  he  could  not  refrain  from  accepting  the  compliments  ten 
dered  him  by  the  citizen  soldiers  of  the  metropolis.  The  first  of  these  came 
in  the  form  of  an  invitation  from  Major-General  Sanford,  commanding  the 
First  Division  of  the  New  York  State  Militia,  and  the  Mayor  of  the  city, 
requesting  the  illustrious  exile  to  participate  in  the  review  of  the  Na 
tional  Guards  of  New  York  on  the  ensuing  Fourth  of  July. 

On  that  occasion,  when  the  soldiers  passed  in  review  through  the  City 
Hall  Park  the  Mayor  conducted  Mr.  Meagher  to  the  Governor's  Room,  from 
the  window  of  which  he  reviewed  the  pageant.  It  was  to  him  a  novel  and 
exhilirating  sight,  for  there,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  he  saw  the  glo 
rious  sun  of  July  stream  on  the  flashing  bayonets  of  the  "Boys  who  wore 
the  green !  " 

How  his  own  eyes  sparkled  and  his  heart  heaved,  as,  to  the  spirit- 
stirring  notes  of  '-St.  Patrick's  Day!"  his  armed  countrymen  marched 
proudly  before  him.  There  was  a  fair  contingent  of  them  —  both  horse  and 
foot.  The  -'Irish  Dragoons,"  the  "Brigade  Lancers."  the  "Jackson  Horse 
Guards,"  and  the  "Montgomery  Troop,"  contrasted  favorably  with  their 
brothers  on  foot  —  the  Ninth  and  Sixty-Ninth  Regiments,  the  "Montgomery 


324  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHER. 

Guards,"    the    "Emmet    Guards,"     and    the     "  Irish- American     Guards."      No 
wonder   his  exultant   feelings  found   vent   in   the  passionate   exclamation :  — 

"  Would  to  God  we  had  these  men  upon  the  old  sod,  and  the  hope  of 
Wolfe  Tone  would  be  fulfilled!" 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  review,  General  Sanford  invited  Mr.  Meagher 
to  his  house  to  meet  the  officers  of  the  First  Division,  by  whom  he  was 
most  enthusiastically  welcomed, — one  of  the  leading  toasts  proposed  on  the 
occasion  being  — 

"  The  health  of  Thomas  Francis  Meagher — a  traitor  to  England,  but  the 
young  and  devoted  champion  of  Irish  liberty,  to  the  cause  of  which  we  drink 
tg"  speediest  success  /" 

CASTLE  GARDEN,  JULY  27xn,   1852. 

We're  Irish  all  over  to-night  here,  and    Irish  we'll  be  evermore. 

PATRICK. 

The  feelings  which  the  appearance  of  the  Irish  soldiers  in  the  Fourth 
of  July  parade  evoked  in  Meagher's  heart,  determined  his  old  compatriots  — 
(to  whose  enthusiastic  labors  for  the  preceding  three  years  the  success  of 
the  Irish  military  organizations  was  to  be  chiefly  credited,) — to  convoke  a 
general  muster  of  all  such  organizations  in  Xew  York  and  its  vicinity  for 
the  special  purpose  of  honoring  the  foremost  man  of  their  race  on  the 
American  continent.  The  Battery  Park  was  selected  as  the  place  on  which 
the  Parade  and  review  was  to  take  place,  while  it  was  decided  to  present 
the  young  chief  with  an  address  from  the  military  in  Castle  Garden. 

The  27th  of  July   was   the   day   appointed  for  the   muster. 

Never  before  was  there  such  a  numerous  body  of  Irish- Ameiican  soldiers 
assembled  together;  for,  in  addition  to  the  New  York  organizations  that 
participated  in  the  Fourth  of  July  parade,  there  were  present,  contingents 
from  Brooklyn,  Williamsburg,  Jersey  City,  Newark,  and  Paterson.  It  was, 
in  truth,  a  great  muster  of  the  exiled  children  of  the  Gael  for  not  only 
was  every  foot  of  the  Battery  Park  —  not  required  for  the  purpose  of  the 
parade  —  occupied  by  an  enthusiastic  crowd  of  the  Young  Tribune's  coun 
trymen  and  countrywomen,  but  the  space  outside  the  railings  was  taken 
up  by  quadruple  lines  of  the  same  element  —  anxious,  of  course,  to  see  and 
applaud  their  "Bowld  Soldier  Boys!"  but  far  more  eager  to  obtain  one 
sight  of  the  man  in  whose  honor  this  grand  assemblage  had  gathered  from 
every  quarter  of  the  city,  and  its  environs. 


CITIZEN  SOLDIERS  HONOR    THE  EXILE. 


After  reviewing  the  troops  Mr.  Meagher.  accompanied  by  some  intimate 
friends,  proceeded  to  Castle  Garden  in  order  to  receive  the  address  of  the 
citizen-soldiers,  and  to  reply  thereto. 

After  the  military  had  filed  into  the  Garden  and  taken  their  places  in 
the  parquette,  admission  by  ticket  was  given  for  the  platform  and  gallery, 
until  the  immense  building  was  filled  to  its  utmost  extent. 

The  address  on  the  part  of  his  fellow-soldiers  was  delivered  by  Lieu 
tenant-Colonel  Doheuy, —  and  most  appropriately  so,— for  no  other  man  labored 
mor<?  earnestly  and  effectively  in  creating  and  perfecting  the  Irish  military 
organizations  present,  and  no  other  was  so  well  qualified  to  express  their 
sentiments  towards  their  illustrious  countryman  —  and  the  cause  he  so  faith 
fully  represented. 

LIEUT.  COLONEL  DOHEXY'S  ADDRESS. 

"  Sir :  —  The  object  of  those  who  are  here  to  greet  you  is  not  vain  dis 
play.  They  do  not  tender  you  an  ovation.  They  have  no  boast  to  make 
either  for  themselves  or  you.  They  commemorate  no  triumph.  They  de 
sire  solely  to  congratulate  and  to  welcome  you.  In  doing  this,  they  seize 
the  occasion  to  attest  the  purity  of  your  aims,  the  sincerity  of  your  efforts, 
and  the  heroism  of  your  sacrifice.  You  aspired  to  the  complete  deliverance 
of  your  country ;  you  bid  her  rise  in  her  might  and  in  her  wrath  and  win 
a  free  destiny  or  a  glorious  grave. 

"  The  effort  to  which  you  urged  her  was  Titanic,  but  the  inspiration  of 
a  lofty  purpose  fully  justified  it.  The  memory  of  cruel  wrong,  the  promise 
of  a  bright  future,  filled  the  fountain  of  your  inspiration  to  overflowing; 
your  language  gushed  forth  a  flood  of  fire,  purifying  whatever  it  touched, 
and  impelled  by  its  vitality,  the  country  seemed  to  spring  heavenward. 

"  Discomfiture  followed,  and  you  sealed  your  devotion  with  your  life. 
The  doom  of  '  treason '  you  heard  with  no  dismay,  and  in  its  gloom  you 
pronounced  a  hope  forever  immortal.  You  had  measured  the  '  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death '  and  became  another  witness,  as  it  were,  from  a  less  err 
ing  world,  of  your  country's  imperishable  fidelity  to  liberty.  "VVe  share  that 
hope.  "VVe  take  pride  in  it;  it  shall  light  us  through  the  future. 

"  Brave  men  may  be  stricken  down  in  battle.  The  heroic  are  not  guar 
anteed  against  defeat;  and  even  though  they  may  succeed,  success  often 
degenerates  into  anarchy ;  but  truths  such  as  yours,  pronounced  in  the  sol 
emn  moments  between  life  and  death,  abide  among  men,  and  become  a 
'guide  and  a  prophecy,'  alike  in  triumph  and  defeat. 

"•  You  see  here  many  of  your  countrymen  in  arms.  To  you  the  spectacle 
must  be  a  novel  one.  —  On  consideration  it  will  not  appear  less  novel  than 


326  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

significant.  Where  many  of  those  around  you  were  born  and  nursed  —  where 
rest  the  ashes  of  their  fathers  —  in  that  land  which,  wherever  they  may  be, 

is  to  them 

"The  greenest  spot  in   memory's  watte"  — 

the  one  unfading  image  in  their  heart,  round  which  clusters  every  manly 
association  of  virtue,  hope  and  glory;  in  that  land,  sir,  to  have  arms  in 
their  ha^ds,  would  make  them  felons,  because  —  and  the  logic  is  perilous  to 
tyranny  everywhere — such  have  been  their  wrongs  the  government  could 
not  resist  the  conviction  that  they  would  use  them  against  itself.  Here,  where 
they  bave  taken  shelter  from  persecution  and  from  want,  they  have  been  re 
ceived  into  civil  brotherhood  by  a  great,  generous,  and  free  people.  They 
have  also  been  admitted  to  the  glorious  trust  of  the  national  defence. 

"  The  flag  of  freedom,  the  integrity  of  liberty,  the  glory  of  the  might 
iest  of  nations,  have  been  committed  to  their  valor  and  loyalty.  In  a  grate 
ful  and  proudly  confident  spirit,  they  rally  round 

"  The  fctarry  flag  of  Liberty," 

determined  to  justify  the  confidence  of  their  adopted  land.  If  they  could 
have  a  higher  incentive  to  loyalty,  to  prove  the  cruelty  and  folly  of  the 
British  government  would  be  a  powerful  inducement.  But  this  is  not  needed. 
Independent  thereof,  never  had  soldiers  a  better  mission ;  we  aspire  to  fulfil 
it  with  honor. 

'•Those  who  accept  the  arms  of  liberty  assume  the  responsibility  of 
defending  her;  they  become  her  sentinels  and  her  guardians.  We  hope  we 
shall  prove  equal  to  the  trust. 

u  We  heartily  congratulate  you  on  your  liberation  from  a  cruel  captivity, 
where  no  honor  was  ever  observed  toward  you  or  your  comrades.  Those 
who  controlled  you  were  mere  jailers,  in  the  meanest  sense  of  the  word.  For 
the  rest  it  becomes  us  not  to  speak.  Armed  men  do  not  rail ;  they  do  not 
beg ;  nor  do  they  idly  menace.  These  are  the  tricks  of  slaves.  His  sword 
or  his  musket  speak  for  the  soldier,  whether  the  voice  be  one  of  defence 
or  vengeance.  To  these  stern  interpreters  are  we  bound.  Let  them  speak 
when  the  hour  comes.  Till  then,  silence  best  befits  us. 

"To  your  comrades  in  captivity  we  beg  you  to  communicate  what  you 
see  and  hear  to-day.  Tell  them  that,  as  long  as  their  mighty  hearts  are 
not  broken,  there  is  room  for  hope.  Tell  them  that,  day  and  night  their 
honorable  deliverance  is  the  first  thought  of  their  armed  countrymen  in  these 
free  States.  Tell  them  even  yet  to  bear  up.  They  are  apostles  of  a  world's 
faith  —  martyrs  of  humanity  —  heralds  of  a  higher  destiny — their  heroism, 
the  aurora  of  an  everlasting  day,  whose  morning  will  dawn  when  one  hun 


TO   SOLDIERS'1    WELCOME.  327 


dred  thousand  Irishmen  shall  stand  around  the  American  stars,  educated  in 
freedom,  and  trained  to  the  valorous  duties  her  supremacy  among  men 
requires  from  her  true  disciples." 

MR.  MEACHER'S  REPLY. 

"  Gentlemen  :  —  I  trust  you  will  not  be  displeased  with  me  if  I  say  that 
I  regret  the  publicity  which  has  been  given  to  this  event,  for  it  may  have 
given  rise  to  expectations  which  1  am  not  in  a  position  to  fulfil.  Yet  the 
address  you  have  been  pleased  to  present,  I  accept  with  sentiments  of  res 
pect,  gratitude  and  pride.  Assuring  me  of  your  friendship  —  stamping  •<. 
sanction  upon  my  past  career  —  expressive  of  high  hope  and  manly  purpose 
—  it  lifts  my  spirits  up,  and  imparts  a  golden  color  to  the  current  of  my 
thoughts.  The  more  so  since  you  disclaim,  in  this  proceeding,  the  intention 
to  hold  an  idle  pageant,  or  solemnize  a  vain  ovation. 

u  I  can  therefore  speak  to  you  with  a  free  heart,  and  in  language  that 
of  its  own  nature,  will  exempt  itself  from  criticism. 

"  Had  not  a  word  been  spoken,  the  scene  before  me  would  inspire  the 
happiest  emotions.  These  arms  point  to  tiie  loftiest  regions  of  our  history. 
They  penetrate  and  disturb  the  clouds  which  overcharge  the  present  hour  — 
revealing  to  us  in  the  light  which  quivers  from  them  many  a  fragment  and 
monument  of  glory. 

"There  are  laurels  interwoven  with  the  cypress  upon  that  old  ruin,  the 
home  of  our  fathers,  the  sam-tuary  of  our  faith,  the  fountain  of  our  love. 
Desolate  as  it  is,  it  reminds  us  of  our  descent  and  lineage.  Of  the  soldiers, 
the  scholars,  and  the  statesmen  who  constituted  the  bright  and  indestruc 
tible  links  of  that  descent  and  lineage,  we  have  i  o  reason  to  be  ashamed. 
The  nation  that  lilts  her  head  the  highest  in  the  world  would  vote  them 
statues  in  her  Pantheon. 

"  To  the  scholars  and  the  statesmen  of  our  country,  on  another  occasion 
let  there  be  a  fitting  tribute  paid.  On  this  day  other  recollections  are  called 
forth,  and  names  and  exploits  that  are  dear  to  the  Irish  soldier  arise  la 
quick  succession,  and  star  the  field  of  memory.  The  names  of  O'Neill, 
O'Donnell,  Mountcashel,  Sarsfield,  Dillon  and  De  Lacy  awake  like  echoes  of 
a  trumpet,  from  the  rugged  heights  and  recesses  of  the  past.  There  is  the 
defence  of  the  Cambray,  retreat  of  Altenheim,  the  battle  of  Malplaquet. 
The  colors  of  the  biiga.e  moulder  in  the  Church  of  the  Invalides. 

'France  cannot  forget  the  noble  contributions  made  to  her  glory  by  the 
regiments  of  .Burke,  Galmoy,  and  Hamilton.  She  cannot  forget  that  at  Cre- 


328  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

mona,  where  the  activity  and  vigor  of  her  own  sons  were  relaxed  by  the 
fine  climate,  the  wines,  the  delicious  fruits,  the  gayeties  and  licentiousness 
of  Italy  —  when  the  drum  was  silent,  and  not  ^  soldier  scoured  the  neigh 
borhood  or  paced  the  ramparts  —  she  cannot  forget  that  the  Irish  regiments 
alone  retained  the  vigor  of  military  discipline  of  the  entire  garrison ;  that 
they  alone  were  found  regularly  under  arms  on  parade  or  at  the  posts 
assigned  them ;  that  they  alone  defeated  the  treachery  of  the  monk  Cas- 
sioli,  and,  fighting  in  their  shirts,  beat  back  the  cavalry  of  Prince  Eugene, 
and  the  grenadiers  of  De  Merci. 

"Neither  can  she  forget  that  on  the  Adige  —  up  through  the  mountains, 
whose  shadows  darken  the  northern  shore  of  the  Lake  of  Gardee  —  up 
through  the  passes  where  the  Austrian  engineers  had  cut  their  trenches, 
and  a  gallant  peasantry  stood  guard  —  up  the  face  of  those  steep  precipices, 
which  seemed  accessible  only  to  the  eagle  and  the  chamois  —  the  Irish  sprang, 
and  clutched  the  keys  of  Riva. 

"  But  not  to  the  memory  of  France  alone  do  we  appeal  for  the  vindi 
cation  of  the  courage  of  our  fathers.  Spain,  which  received  the  remnant  of 
Tyrone's  army  —  Austria,  in  whose  ranks  so  many  thousands  of  the  exiles 
perished  —  Eussia,  whose  forces  were  organized  by  Lacy — will  bear  witness 
that  the  land  which  bore  us  has  given  birth  to  men  whose  chivalry  'and 
genius  entitled  their  country  to  a  nobler  fate. 

"We  need  not  allude  to  the  revolution  out  of  which— like  Chrysar  from 
the  blood  of  Medusa  —  this  noble  .Republic  arose.  To  the  gratitude  of  the 
country,  in  the  midst  of  whose  fruitfuluess  arid  glory  we  repose,  let  us  con 
fidently  commit  the  renown  of  those  in  whose  graves  are  set  the  founda 
tions  of  her  freedom. 

u  Further  to  the  south  — there  where  the  Andes  tower  and  the  Amazon 
rolls  his  mighty  flood  — the  Celt  — the  spurned  and  beggared  Celt!  has  left 
nis  foot-print  on  many  a  field  of  triumph.  Venezuela,  Chacabuco,  Valpa 
raiso,  have  recollections  of  the  fiery  valor  before  which  the  flag  of  the 
Escurial  went  down. 

"Such  being  the  case,  you  have  just  reason  to  be  proud,  and  America 
has  just  reason  to  trust  you.  America,  with  her  hand  upon  her  own  and 
other  histories,  may  confide  in  your  integrity,  your  fealty,  and  devotion. 

"1  speak  not  of  the  hope  which  Ireland  may  derive  from  your  organ 
izations,  and  the  propitious  influence  it  may  exercise  in  some  happier  season, 
upon  her  interests  and  ultimate  condition.  This  is  a  subject  on  which  no 
one,  least  of  all  a  young  politician,  should  touch  inconsiderately,  or  with 


RESPONSE    TO    SOLDIERS'     WELCOME.  329 

temerity.  But  this  I  can  safely  say,  that  whether  Irishmen  cast  their  for 
tunes  permanently  here,  or,  answering  to  some  wise  and  inspiring  summons, 
shall  return  to  the  land  whence  they  have  been  forced  to  fly,  the  use  of 
arms  will  improve  their  character,  will  strengthen  and  exalt  it,  freeing  it 
from  many  of  the  irregularities  which  enfeeble  and  degrade  it.  The  disci 
pline  of  the  soldier  will  adapt  it  to  the  more  serious  and  sacred  duties  of 
life,  and  render  it  capable  of  experiencing  adversity  without  despair,  or  vic 
tory  without  intemperance. 

"In  contemplating  this  alternative,  I  speak 'not  without  a  precedent,  nor 
do  I  suggest  a  movement  hostile  or  dangerous  to  the  Constitution  you  are 
sworn,  armed,  and  embodied  to  maintain.  The  example  of  Kosciusco  requires 
no  apology  or  panegyric.  The  world  is  the  temple  of 'his  fame — the  sun  his 
coronet  of  glory.  Leaving  his  native  land  in  the  days  of  his  fresh  and  radient 
youth,  he  plunged  himself  into  the  red  sea,  that  lay  between  America  and 
her  liberties.  Having  fought  nobly  in  her  cause,  and  beheld  that  cause  en 
throned  and  recognized,  he  returned  to  his  native  country,  and,  desirous  of 
establishing  there  what  he  had  here  contributed  to  secure,  took  rank  under 
Poniatowsky,  faced  and  broke  the  cuirassiers  of  Frederick,  and  paused  not 
until  the  lance  of  the  Cossack  quivered  above  his  heart. 

u  The  same  story  may  yet  be  told  of  one  who,  flying  from  the  shores 
of  Ireland,  devoted  his  manhood  to  the  service  of  his  country,  and  return 
ing  to  the  soil  from  whence  his  hopes,  his  memories,  and  his  sorrows  sprung, 
found  a  grave,  tot  beneath  the  ruins  of  his  native  land,  but  beneath  the 
arch  of  triumph  reared  to  commemorate  her  ascension  from  the  tomb. 

"The  day  may   be  distant  that  will  realize  this  conjecture. 

"  The  history  of  Ireland  suggests  despondency,  and  reconciles  us,  by 
anticipations,  to  the  worst.  The  sanguine,  the  generous,  the  courageous, 
the  ambitious  even  —  all  share  alike  in  the  gloom  which  that  history  diffuses. 
Yet,  it  is  no  impiety  for  me  to  predict  that,  as  her  sufferings  have  been 
long,  her  happiness  shall  be  great,  and  that,  as  she  has  been  called  upon 
to  bear  a  weary  burthen,  and  to  pine  and  plod  in  sickness  and  starvation, 
while  other  nations  have  rejoiced,  so,  when  the  appointed  day  has  come, 
shall  her  joy  be  more  joyful  and  her  glory  the  more  glorious.  If  such 
should  be  the  will  of  Providence,  Providence  in  his  own  good  time  will 
indicate  the  way.  To  the  Promised  Land  there  will  be  to  us,  guides  upon 
earth,  and  commandments  from  on  high.  Faithfully,  piously,  lovingly,  let 
us  await  that  time,  and  with  pure  hearts,  and  upright  spirits,  perfect  our 
selves  in  those  arts  and  habits  which  will  enable  us  to  meet  it  with  ad 
vantage.  This  is  the  noblest  object  we  can  have  upon  the  earth. 


3ci6  MEMOIES   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAUHEli. 

"  There  is,  however,  another  object  which  here  should  stir  the  feelings, 
and  stimulate  the  energies  —  should  prompt  the  intellect,  quicken  the  indus 
try,  fire  the  ambition  of  all  who  come  from  Ireland  —  who  are  jealous  of 
her  name,  anxious  for  the  sympathy  of  all  great  and  reputable  nations,  and 
who  have  fixed  for  her,  in  the  coming  years,  an  abode  of  peace,  and  an 
eminence  of  renown.  Here,  in  this  land,  the  resort  of  strangers  of  every 
clime,  the  centre  of  civilization — the  great  anchorage  of  commerce  —  the  cit 
adel  of  freedom,  by  the  cultivation  of  those  virtues  which  strengthen,  em 
bellish  and  elevate  a  State,  t  by  sobriety,  honesty,  and  assiduity  in  all  pur 
suits,  m  generous  and  cheerlul  subordination  to  her  laws,  in  warm  and 
strenuous  fidelity  to  her  charter,  —  will  the  name  of  Ireland  be  made  res 
pected,  a  deep  and  enduring  sympathy  -for  her  sufferings  and  her  mission 
be  evoked,  and  new  lacilities  be  opened  for  the  redemption  to  which,  with 
broken  accent,  and  a  wounded  heart,  she  aspires. 

"To  this  end  the  military  organization  of  which  I  here  behold  so  con 
spicuous  an  illustration,  is  sure  to  conduce.  —  It  is  the  school  of  propriety, 
honor,  generosity,  fidelity  and  courage.  It  absorbs  and  concentrates  the 
more  vigorous  faculties,  the  more  liberal  tastes,  the  more  active  emotions  of 
the  community,  and  regulating,  purifying,  endowing  them  with  a  spirit  of 
decorum,  narmony  and  nobility,  reimburses  them  to  the  State,  in  a  condition 
so  improved,  and  with  a  force  so  augmented  that  she  may  enjoy  the  fullest 
prosperity  with  confidence,  and  face  the  most  formidable  enemy  without  dis 
may.  Like  oi.e  of  your  noble  lakes,  which  combines  and  congregates  the  vague 
and  wandering  elements  of  strength,  impetuosity  and  progress,  which  precipi 
tate  themselves  from  your  mountains,  course  along  your  plains,  and  deepen  in 
your  valleys,  to  send  them  forth  again  with  renewed  activity  and  power,  to 
fertilize  your  fields,  to  flood  the  aqueducts  your  art  has  reared,  and  float 
the  wealth  you  have  wafted  from  and  beckone.i.  to  your  shores. 

"  Nor  are  the  benefits,  neither  is  the  spirit  which  emanates  from  this 
organization,  confined  to  those  of  whom  it  is  composed.  Pervading  every 
section  of  the  Commonwealth  by  its  influence,  it  consolidates  that  Union 
whose  perpetuity  was  the  noble  aim  of  the  eminent  statesman  for  whose 
death,  seven  days  since,  the  city  robed  herself  in  mourning.*  Counteracting 
the  influence  of  avarice,  luxury,  fashion,  it  keeps  alive  in  marts  and  man 
sions —  costlier  than  those  of  Tyre  and  Sidou,  of  Genoa  or  Venice — that 
spirit  of  patriotism  which  broke  forth  from  the  lips  of  the  Lacedemonian 
mother,  when,  in  answer  to  the  messenger  who  told  her  that  her  five  sons 

*HBNKY  CLAY. 


RESPONSE    TO    SOLDIERS'    WELCOME.  331 


had  been  slain  in  battle,  she  exclaimed  — '  I  asked  not  concerning  my  chil 
dren —  I  asked  only  for  my  country:  if  that  be  prosperous,  I  am  happy!' 
—  that  spirit  of  patriotism  which  inspired  the  mother  of  Coriolanu-,  when 
ehe  exclaimed — 'Had  1  a  dozen  sous  —  each  in  my  love  alike,  and  none  less 
dear  than  my  good  Marius  —  I  had  rather  have  seven  die  nobly  for  their 
country,  than  one  voluptuously  surfeit  out  of  action ! '  Other  feelings,  hardly 
ess  exalted,  and  operating  less  sublimely,  derive  from  it  their  origin. 

"  In  the  freest  monarchy  which  the  friends  of  monarchy  can  boast  of, 
ne  citizens  are  defrauded  of  the  prerogative  which  is  theirs,  by  the  law  of 
necessity,  of  interest  and  of  honor,  and  which  extends  the  solicitude  which 
guards  the  fireside,  to  the  wider  circle  of  the  States.  Hence  all  the  rude 
propensities  of  our  nature  prevail  in  a  more  marked  degree.  There  is  less 
warmth,  less  confidence,  less  frankness,  less  vivacity,  and  the  common  aspect 
of  the  people  is  sullen,  sluggish  and  repulsive. 

"  Here,  the  poorest  trader  that  drives  an  honest  bargain  in  the  meanest 
quarter  of  the  city  —  the  poorest  mechanic  that  sheds  his  sweat  upon  the 
garret  for  his  bread,  —  is  cheered  in  his  drudgery  by  the  proud  thought  that 
he,  as  well  as  the  wealthiest  is  an  active,  and  essential  component  of  the 
State  —  that  by  his  vote  he  affects  the  direction  of  her  government,  and  by 
his  arms,  and  the  habits  they  impose,  cooperates  in  her  defence. 

"  It  must  lighten  his  toil,  exhilirate  his  heart,  quicken  his  pulse,  ana 
pour  Iresri  metal  into  his  worn  and  withered  arm,  to  feel  that,  like  Putnam, 
he  may  turn  from  his  obscure  labor  to  share  the  exciting  perils  of  the 
field.  Lifting  him  above  the  superstitious,  whicn  haunt  him  from  the  cradle, 
it  subdues  the  fear  of  pain,  and  iusp  res  a  disdain  of  death.  Divesting  it 
of  its  terrors,  it  comes  not  like  the  Erinnys,  with  the  cincture  of  snakes , 
and  heralded  by  the  cries  of  Cithreron,  ^uc  beautiful  as  Hyperion,  with 
his  brow  wreathed  with  an  imortal  star,  and  his  summons  is 

Welcome  as  ihe  cry 
Thai  told   ihe  Indian  ^es  were  ne:. 

To  the  world-seeking  Genoese, 
When  the  land  wind  from  the  woods  or  palm, 
And  orange    proves,  and  fields  of   bal:a, 

Blew  o'er  the   Ilaytlan  seas.' " 

The  above  noble  speech,  —  the  first  which  the  young  orator  addressed  t< 
his  countrymen  in  America  —  clearly  set  forth  the  policy  he  recommended 
his  exiled  compatriots  to  adopt  in  their  efforts  for  the  disenthralment  ol 
their  Motherland.  Its  effect  was  soon  observable  in  tlie  increased  impetus 
given  to  the  formation  of  Irish  military  organizations.  Steps  were  taken  to 


332  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

raise  a  new  Eifle  Regiment,  of  which  Meagher  himself  was  to  assume  com 
mand.  The  regiment  was,  at  first,  known  as  the  "  Republican  Rifles." 
Its  nucleus  was  the  u  Mitchel  Light  Guard,"  an  independent  company  or 
ganized  by  Joseph  Brenan,  and,  save  the  Captain,  composed  almost  exclu 
sively  ot  men  from  Meagher's  native  county  —  (Waterf  ord) .  The  first  public 
p;irade  of  the  "Republican  Rifles"  was  held  on  St.  Patrick's  Day,  1853, 
and  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  following,  the  regiment  was  reviewed  by 
Meagher  at  "Old  Fort  Diamond,"  on  Staten  Island. 

The-  name  of  this  command  was  subsequently  changed  to  that  of  the 
•'  Irish  Rifles,'-  under  which  designation  it  constituted  the  nucleus  from 
which  —  when  the  integrity  of  the  Union  was  threatened  —  sprang  the  famous 
37th  New  York  Volunteers,  than  which  no  better  or  braver  regiment  fough'. 
under  the  "  Old  Flag." 


CHAPTER   LV. 


A   CLEAR  FIELD   AND  XO   FAVOR. 

Then,  Hung    alone,  or  hand  In  hand, 

In  mirthful  hour,  or  spirit  solemn; 
In   los'ly  toil,  or  high  command, 

In  social   hall,  or  charging  column; 
In  tempting  wealth,  and  trying  woe, 

In   struggl  ng  with  a   mob's  dictation; 
In  bearing  back  a  foreign  foe, 

In  training  up  a  troubled  nation: 
Still  hold  to  Truth,  abound  in  Love, 

Refusing  every    base  compliance  — 
Tour  Praiee  withiu,  jour  Prize   above, 

And  live  and  die  in  SELF  RELIANCE- 
DAVIS. 

FROM    his    entrance    into    public  life,   in   Ireland,   to  the  hour  of  his  sen- 
ence  to  death  at  Clonmel,  Thomas  Francis   Meagher  had  freely  given  his  time 


A   OLE  AH   FIELD  A^iD   NO   FAVOR.  S33 

and  talents  to  his  country's  service.  For  her  sake,  also,  the  four  succeeding 
years  of  his  existence  had  been  wasted  in  prison  or  exile.  "With  his  advent 
in  America  came  his  first  opportunity,  and  —  as  he  conceived  —  his  imperative 
duty  of  devoting  his  abilities  to  the  attainmenr  c.l  H.M  independent  livelihood, 
and  he  determined  to  commence  the  work  without  unnecessary  delay. 

HE  ABJURES   QUEEN  YiCTOr;;A. 

As  a  preliminary  and  most  essential  step  to  entering  on  his  new  career, 
he  deemed  it  incumbent  on  him  to.  formally,  renounce  all  obligations  to  the 
"foreign  potentate''  whose  rule  over  his  native  laud  he  had  previously  staked 
his  life  to  overthrow;  and  as  a  concurrent  part  ot  the  agreeable  duty,  to 
"  declare  his  intention  of  becoming  a  citizen  of  the  United  States." 

Accordingly,  on  the  9th  of  August,  1852,  he  appeared,  unattended  before 
the  proper  officer  of  the  Superior  Court  of  the  United  States;  he  listened 
with  profound  attention  while  the  form  of  oath  was  being  read  over  to 
him,  but  when  the  officer  arrived  at  the  concluding  words  —  "of  whom  I 
am  now  a  subject,"  —  Mr.  Mtagher  said:  — 

"  I  do  not  consider  myself  Queen  Victoria's  subject,  whereas  I  have 
been  declared  an  outlaw  by  the  British  Government." 

However,  after  the  law  of  the  case  had  been  explained  to  him  he  took 
the  customary  oath  —  in  the  following  words:  — 

"  I,  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER,  do  declare  on  oath,  that  it  is  bona  fide 
my  INTENTION  to  become  a  CITIZEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  and  to  re 
nounce  for  ever  all  allegiance  and  fidelity  to  any  foreign  Prince,  Potentate, 
State  or  Sovereignty  whatever,  and  particularly  to  the  Queen  of  the  United 
Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  of  whom  I  am  now  a  subject." 

The  clerk  then  handed  Mr.  Meagher  a  copy  of  his  Declaration  of  Inten 
tion. 

This,  the  first  offh-ial  document  which  Mr.  Meagher  had  the  honor  to 
receive  from  the  government  of  his  adoption,  he  ever  prized  among  the 
many  which  his  services  to  that  government  in  its  hour  of  peril,  subse 
quently  won.  The  millions  of  his  countrymen  who,  as  in  his  case,  had 
their  utter  renunciation  of  any  obligation  to  the  tyrannical  government  un 
der  whose  rule  they  were  born,  formally  recorded,  can,  each  and  every  man 
ot  them,  appreciate  his  reasons  for  cherishing  the  proof  of  their  self-eman 
cipation  irom  even  the  silent  admission  of  a  degradation  to  which  their 
consciences  never  submitted.  By  anticipation  they  rejoiced  in  the  honors 


334  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

of  full-blown  citizen»hip  of  which  this  "Declaration  of  Intention"  was  an 
assurance.  But  in  their  renunciation  of  every  obligation  —  (save  that  of 
everlasting  hatred,)  —  to  the  symbol  of  foreign  tyranny  —  they  enjoyed  a 
present  ecstatic  triumph. 

Xor  can  the  repudiated  representative  of  Irish  oppression  solace  herself 
with  the  reflection  that,  when  her  exterminated  victims  proclaimed  their 
intention  of  becoming  citizens  of  this  glorious  Republic,  she  was,  thereby, 
finally  rid  of  a  disturbing  element.  If  she,  or  her  abettors  in  tyranny,  ever 
entertained  such  a  pleasing  delusion,  the  experiences  of  the  past  forty  years 
must  have  dispelled  it. 

[  NOTE.  —  Meagher  never  gave  truer  expression  to  the  sentiments  of  his 
compatriots  in  America,  than  when,  in  the  year  following  his  "  Declaration 
of  Intention,"  he  placed  himself  on  record  before  the  world  on  this,  to 
Irish  nationalists,  all  absorbing  question.  From  a  speech  delivered  at  a  flag- 
presentation  to  the  "Meagher  Grenadiers,"  of  Jersey  City,  on  October  31sr, 
1853,  the  following  passage  is  taken :  — 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Republican  Grenadiers  of  New  Jersey,  a  word  as  to 
myself  and  I  have  done.  You  have  done  me  the  honor  to  adopt  my  name. 
That  you  may  not  bear  that  name  under  wrong  impressions  —  that  you  may 
not  go  through  evolutions  under  false  colors,  —  it  is  right  that  I  should 
state  to  you  the  principles  I  hold.  In  a  word,  then,  they  are  the  same  as 
those  I  held  in  July,  1848.  From  any  of  them,  —  in  the  minutest  particular, 
—  to  the  smallest  extent,  —  in  one  solitary  instance,  —  by  any  one  act,  or 
word,  or  gesture,  —  I  defy  the  keenest  critic,  with,  or  without  spectacles, — 
with  the  eye  of  a  Cyclops,  or  the  eye  of  a  snake,  —  to  detect  the  slightest 
deviation.  What  I  was  then  I  am  now.  I  have  brought  my  principles  to 
America,  and  believe  they  do  not  conflict  with  the  spiiit  and  provisions  of 
the  Republic.  Others  may  have  changed  —  /  have  not.  Others  may  have 
apostatized  —  /  have  not.  Others  may  have  turned  their  backs  upon  the  altar 
raised  that  year,  on  the  green  sod,  to  the  memory  of  the  dead  and  the 
worship  of  freedom,  and  slinking  off  through  by-ways  and  crooked  ways,  to' 
other  shrines,  may  have  cast  the  dust  off  their  sandals  upon  that  altar.  I 
have  not.  What  1  was  then  I  am  now." 

PUBLICATION  OF  MEAGHER'S  IRISH    SPEECHES 

After    consultation    with    his    friends,   Mr.   Meagher    decided  on  delivering 
a   series   of   lectures   in   those   cities  of  the  Union   from   which  he  had  already 


A    CLEAR    FIELD   ASD   A'O   EAVOR.  335 

received    invitations    to   public  receptions,    and   addresses  of  congratulation    on 
his  escape  from   British    thraldom. 

It  was  the  wisest  course  he  could  adopt,  for  it  fulfilled  the  two-fold 
purpose  of  gratifying  the  desire  of  his  admirers  and  countrymen  to  see  and 
hear  him,  and  also  of  most  speedily  enabling  him  to  provide  a  home  for 
the  young  wife  who  was  soon  expected  to  rtjoin  him. 

But  before  definitely  entering  on  his  lecturing  tour,  he  was  recommended 
to  prepare  for  publication  a  selection  of  his  speeches  delivered  in  Ireland, 
and  which  had  won  him  the  admiration  of  millions  of  America's  freedom- 
loving  citizens. 

Such  a  collection  was,  accordingly,  prepared,  and,  under  the  title  of 
"  Speeches  on  Legislative  Independence  of  Ireland,  with  Introductory  Notes," 
was  published  by  J.  B.  Redfield,  Nassau  street,  New  York. 

Besides  the  valuable  notes  prefixed  to  the  several  speeches,  the  book 
contains  a  historical  "Introduction"  epitomizing  Irish  political  events  from 
the  passage  of  the  Act  of  Union  to  the  death  of  Thomas  Davis. 

The  book  contains  twenty-three  speeches  —  the  last  being  that  delivered 
on  John  Mitchel's  transportation  June  6th,  1848.  It  also  contains  a  series 
of  papers  written  for  the  Nation  by  Meagher,  in  1846-7,  entitled  "  LESSONS 
FKOM  FOREIGN  HISTORY  — THE  BELGIAN  REVOLUTION."  This  book  ran 
through  several  editions  within  a  year  after  its  publication. 

MEAGIIER'S  LECTURE  ON  AUSTRALIA. 

Towards  the  close  of  November,  1852,  Thomas  Francis  Meagher  delivered 
his  first  lecture  in  America,  at  Metropolitan  Hall,  New  York.  The  subject 

—  "Australia"  —  was    not   one   calculated   to   afford   a  fair  test  of    his  abilities 

—  lor   it    could   not   inspire  the   magnetic   enthusiasm   which   the   young   orator 
had    the    rare    gift    of    transmitting    to    an    audience   of  his   susceptible   Celtic 
countrymen.      Neither,    for    the    same    reason,    was    it    a    subject    to    specially 
attract    Irishmen,    who,   moreover,    had    had    so   many   opportunities    of    seeing 
their  favorite  since  his  arrival  in  the  city  —  six  months  previously  —  that  curios 
ity  to  see  him  on  this  occasion  could  hardly  have  actuated   them  in  mustering 
in    such    force    as    they   did.     The    fact    was,    the    vast    majority  of    those    in 
attendance    came   to    testify   by   their    presence,    their   admiration  for  the  hero 
who   had   labored   so   well,    and    suffered   so   much,    in   the  cause  of  their  com 
mon    country,    and,  —  as    they    felt    in    duty   and    gratitude    bound    to    do  —  to 
give  him  an   encouraging   start  in   his   new  vocation. 


336  ME  MO  HIS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

But  the  audience  that  greeted  Mr.  Meagher  on  the  occasion  of  his  debut 
as  a  lecturer,  was  by  no  means  composed  of  Irish-born  citizens  of  the  me 
tropolis.  Far  from  it.  It  \vas  truly  cosmopolitan.  The  following  introduc 
tion  to  the  HtraJfl  s  report  of  the  lecture  will  afford  a  fair  idea  of  tfie  public 
interest  manifested  on  the  occasion : 

"  Last  evening  Mr.  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  the  distinguished  Irish  exile, 
gave  a  lecture  on  Australia  at  Metropolitan  Hall.  Never  was  that  building 
so  filled  with  human  beings  before.  The  charge  for  admission  was  fifty 
cents.  The  time  announced  for  opening  the  doors  was  seven  o'clock  —  the 
lecture  to  commence  at  eight  o'clock.  So  early  as  five  o'clock  the  hall  was 
besieged;  and  at  six  o'clock  the  crowd  became  so  dense  and  so  threatening, 
that  the  committee  found  it  necessary  tc  open  the  doors,  so  that  at  seven 
o'clock  the  house  was  nearly  filled,  and  those  who  came  punctual  at  that 
time  to  get  good  seats,  were  disappointed.  So  great  was  the  rush  that  the 
crowd  carried  away  the  barriers,  and  a  number  got  in  without  taking  the  trouble 
of  delivering  tickets  on  procuring  them.  The  sum  of  $1,000  was  taken  at 
the  door.  There  were  fully  4.500  persons  in  the  building.  A  large  number 
went  away.  Xot  only  was  every  seat,  in  every  part  of  the  building  occu 
pied,  but  the  stage,  the  passage-ways,  and  every  available  standing-spot  were 
densely  crowded ;  in  fact,  the  people  were  as  densely  wedged  together  as  it 
was  possible  for  them  to  be.  We  observed  Mr.  Maxwell,  the  Collector  of 
the  Port  on  the  stage,  and  Archbishop  Hughes  occupied  a  private  box. 
The  audience  listened  with  breathless  attention  to  the  lecture,  that  occupied 
two  hours  and  a  half  in  its  delivery." 

Commenced  under  such  auspicious  circumstances,  Meagher's  career  as  a 
public  lecturer  was  a  continuous  success.  During  the  month  of  December 
he  accepted  invitations  to  deliver  his  lecture  on  Australia  in  the  following 
cities:  —  Albany,  Schenectady,  Utica,  Syracuse,  Auburn,  Rochester,  Buffalo, 
Cleveland,  St.  Louis  and  Cincinnati. 

The  Lecture  in  Albany  was  delivered  under  the  auspices  of  the  Young 
Men's  Literary  Association.  The  crowd  in  atteudai  ce  occupied  every  foot  of 
space  in  the  hall  —  about  1.300  being  seated  —  and  several  hundred  being 
glad  to  obtain  standing  room  in  the  passage  ways.  Hundreds  more  tried 
persistently  to  gain  admittance,  and  were  only  induced  to  desist  by  the 
announcement  that  Mr.  Meagher  had  consented  to  repeat  the  lecture  on  the 
following  night.  Early  on  the  next  morning  the  committee  announced  that 
all  the  tickets  were  sold. 

During    the    day  Mr.   Meagher    was    waited  upon   by  the  Mayor  and  sev- 


A     CLEAR    FIELD    AND    NO    FAVOB.  337 

eral  members  of  the  Council,  and  other  distinguished  citizens  of  Albany. 
Delegations  from  Troy,  Utica.  and  other  places  called  on  him  in  the 
afternoon  with  invitations  to  lecture,  to  which  his  previous  engagements 
prevented  his  giving  any  definite  answer. 

Having  been  present  at  the  first  night's  lecture,  I  can  bear  personal 
testimony  to  the  fervid  enthusiasm  with  which  the  citizens  of  Albany 
received  the  Young  Tribune;  and  the  reports  of  each  succeeding  lecture 
showed  that  all  his  audiences  manifested  the  same  sympathetic  spirit,  with 
out  distinction  of  race,  creed,  or  class,  for,  on  every  platform,  were  seated 
the  most  distinguished  local  clergymen  of  the  lecturer's  own  faith  beside 
those  of  other  denominations,  as  well  as  the  representative  laymen  of  the 
community  —  public  officials,  members  of  the  learned  professions,  &c.,  while 
the  mass  of  those  who  occupied  the  body  of  the  hall  was,  in  general, 
composed  of  about  equal  portions  of  native  and  naturalized  citizens  —  though, 
from  the  unanimity  of  feeling  in  their  applause  of  the  orator,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  say  among  which  race  were  his  heartiest  admirers. 

Early  in  January,  1853,  Mr.  Meagher  returned  to  New  York,  having 
completed  his  first  lecturing  tour.  During  the  ensuing  mouth  he  lectured 
in  Xew  York.  Brooklyn,  Bo -ton,  and  other  cities  in  the  Eastern  States, 
and,  towards  the  close  of  February,  he  proceeded  to  fill  an  engagement  in 
Philadelphia,  preparatory  to  a  protracted  lecturing  tour  through  the  principal 
cities  of  the  South. 

On  his  arrival  in  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Meagher  was  waited  on  by  a 
number  of  distinguished  individuals,  including  John  and  Kobert  Tyler,  sons 
of  President  Tyler,  and  many  clergymen  of  different  persuasions. 

Previously  to  the  lecture  he  dined  at  the  Episcopal  residence  with  the 
very  Eev.  Fr.  Saurin  and  a  party  of  Roman  Catholic  clergymen,  who  enter 
tained  the  exile  most  affectionately  and  cordially. 

The  lecturer  was  all  that  was  anticipated  by  the  orator's  most  enthusi 
astic  admirers.  Mr.  Meagher  was  introduced  to  the  audience  by  the  Hon. 
John  Binns,  a  rebel  of  'i)8,  then  in  his  81st  year.  Taking  Mr.  Meagher  by 
the  hand  —  the  white-haired  patriarch  said,  with  much  emotion :  — 

"Let  an  Irish  rebel  of  1798  introduce  to  this  meeting  an  Irish  rebel  of 
1848." 

After  the  lecture  Mr.  Meagher  was  serenaded  at  his  hotel,  and  responded 
in  a  speech  to  the  assembled  thousands  breathing  the  old  spirit  of  '48. 


33S  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 


MEAGHER  IN  THE  SOUTH. 

Meagher's  tour  through  the  South  was  one  continuous  ovation.  He 
passed  through  Washington  city  without  making  any  stay,  and  so  was 
unable  to  accept  the  hospitalities  of  the  White  House  previously  tendered 
to  him  by  President  Pierce.  At  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  he  had  a  splen 
did  audience  and  enthusiastic  reception.  The  most  distinguished  men  of  the 
city  and  State  attended.  The  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Reynolds,  with  eight  of  his 
clergy,  were  present  on  the  platform. 

In  Columbia,  the  capital  of  the  State,  he  lectured  on  the  invitation  of 
the  Hibernian  Benevolent  Society.  He  had  a  magnificent  audience,  which 
included  a  large  number  of  the  students  and  nearly  all  the  professors 
of  the  State  College,  together  with  the  professors,  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
College  of  St.  Mary's,  and  the  clergymen  of  the  city.  The  latter  dined 
with  Mr.  Meagher  on  that  day. 

In  Augusta,  Georgia,  he  delivered  two  orations  before  large  audiences. 
On  the  first  occasion  he  was  accompanied  to  the  hall  by  the  Mayor  of  the 
C'.ity,  the  Senators  of  the  District,  the  members  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  aud  all  the  leading  citizens.  A  very  fine  company,  the  Irish  Volun 
teers  appeared  in  uniform,  and  elicited  much  admiration. 

At  Mobile  was  witnessed  the  same  enthusiasm  and  numbers.  While 
there  he  received  an  immense  requisition  from  New  Orleans,  inviting  him 
to  visit  the  Crescent  City  and  deliver  a  series  of  lectures  therein.  He 
accepted  the  invitation,  and  arrived  at  his  destination  in  the  beginning  of 
March. 

His  stay  in  New  Orleans  was  a  protracted  one,  for,  besides  his  busi 
ness  engagements,  he  was  detained  there  in  the  loving  companionship  of 
two  of  his  dearest  personal  friends  and  political  associates  —  Richard  Dalton 
Williams  (-'Shamrock,")  and  Joseph  Breuan.  The  former  had  come  down 
from  Spring  Hill  College,  Alabama,  for  the  express  purpose  of  greeting 
him  and  enjoying  his  society,  and  that  of  his  brother  poet-and-rebel  —  for  a 
brief  holiday.  Brenan  was  then  a  resident  of  New  Orleans,  and  editor  of 
one  of  its  leading  papers,  —  the  True  Delta.  The  three  friends  spent  several 
days  together  exploring  the  coast  scenery  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city,  or  in 
jovial  reminiscences  of  former  pleasant  adventures  in  the  "  Green  Old  Land," 
recalled  while  ''blowing  a  cloud''1  in  Mrs.  Brenan's  cosy  little  reception 
room  —  and  Joe's  library  —  and  study  combined.  It  is  doubtful  if  either  of 
the  friends  enjoyed  a  happier  fortnight  during  the  years  of  his  existence 
in  America. 


A    CLEAR    FIELD  AND  NO  FAVOR.  339 

But  in  addition  to  the  happiness  of  his  old  friends'  society,  Meagher 
had  other  reasons  for  enjoying  his  visit  to  New  Orleans.  In  no  other  city 
in  the  Union  was  he  the  recipient  of  a  warmer  hospitality  from  the  purely 
American  element — and  nowhere  else  was  lie  made  to  feel  more  "at  home" 
in  its  enjoyment.  In  fact,  throughout  the  entire  South,  he  found  the  society 
with  which  he  commingled,  more  congenial  to  his  own  frank,  warm-hearted 
nature  than  he  did  that  of  its  counterpart  in  the  less  demonstrative  commu 
nities  of  other  sections  of  the  country. 

This  fact  should  be  borne  in  mind  when  estimating  the  personal  sacri 
fices  of  feeling  which  Meagher  made  in  his  devotion  to  duty  —  to  the  integrity 
of  the  UNION — and  the  Flag  that  symbolized  it. 

It  was  at  the  urgent  request  of  the  representative  citizens  of  New  Orleans 
that  Mr.  Meagher  first  prepared  and  delivered  his  lecture  on  "Ireland  in 
'48."  It  was  the  last  of  the  series  which  he  delivered  in  that  city,  and  it 
elicited  the  universal  commendation  of  the  city  press.  As  a  specimen  of  the 
notices  given  I  quote  the  following  from  The  Daily  Orleanian:  — 

"Last  night  Mr.  Meagher  closed  his  brilliant  series  of  lectures,  at  a 
late  hour  —  so  late  that  our  sanctum  was  reached  at  the  '  wee  sma'  hour 
ayon  the  twal.'  The  hall  was,  as  usual,  thronged,  and  the  audience  pro 
foundly  sensitive.  He  introduced  many  new  features  into  his  lecture,  and 
spoke  with  intense  admiration  of  Smith  O'Brien.  The  priesthood  he  excul 
pated  from  censure,  by  showing  that  they  never  sanctioned  the  movement 
—  never  betrayed  it." 

At  the  close  of  the  lecture,  Mr.  Meagher  bid  farewell  to  his  large 
auditory  in  a  feeling  address,  wherein  he  explained  the  causes  which  led  to 
his  entering  the  lecture  field  in  the  following  touching  sentences :  — 

"  Through  a  fatal  quarrel  with  a  formidable  government,  backed  by  the 
parties  I  have  referred  to  in  my  lecture,  one  could  not  be  expected  to  fight 
his  way  without  incurring  some  losses;  neither  could  he  resign  his  freedom, 
at  the  distance  of  sixteen  thousand  miles  of  ocean,  without  staking  and 
forfeiting  a  premium  on  the  enterprise. 

"Hence  these  humble  labors  of  mine;  hence  it  is,  that  the  words  1 
was  once  prompt  and  proud  to  utter,  without  fee  or  recompense,  in  the 
cause  of  truth  and  freedom, — for  fatherland  and  conscience,  —  must  now, 
for  a  season,  be  made  the  means  of  realizing  an  unsullied  competence. 

"  Should  the  desired  success  coESummate  the  labor  I  have  unwillingly 
embraced,  I  shall  not,  in  a  more  affluent  condition,  be  unmindful  of  those 
whose  friendship  dispelled  most  of  what  was  repulsive  in  the  labor,  ren- 


340  MEMOIRS    OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

tiering  it  to  me,  unconsciously,  a  work  of  pleasure  rather  than  of  harsh 
necessity.  In  that  home,  which  you  shall  have  assisted  —  some  of  you  with 
fair,  others  with  stout,  but  all  with  willing  hands  —  to  build  up,  and  to 
which  I  hope  to  lead  one  who  did  not  refuse  to  share  with  me  the  isola 
tion  and  ignominy  of  my  exile  in  the  Australian  forest — in  that  home  the 
name  of  Louisiana  shall  be  a  household  word." 

[  NOTE.  —  The  expenses  attendant  on  Meagher's  escape  from  Van  Die- 
mau's  Land  were  solely  defrayed  by  himself,  as  the  following  letter  on  the 
subject  clearly  shows  :  — 

"  ST.  CHARLES  HOTEL,  NEW  ORLEANS, 

41  April    4th,   1854. 
"  To   the  Editor  of  the   New    York  Herald:  — 

"Sir:  I  have  this  moment  read  your  paper  of  the  28th  of  last  month, 
and  beg  to  correct  a  statement  which  appears  there.  The  following  passage 
occurs  in  an  article  about  the  rumored  invasion  of  Canada :  — 

'  Of  the  $30,000  raised  here  by  the  Irish  Directory,  a  balance  still 
remains,  after  paying  all  the  expenses  of  the  escape  of  Meagher,  &c.' 

u  This  statement  is  entirely  incorrect.  The  Irish  Directory  did  not  pay 
the  expenses  of  my  escape  from  Australia.  That  liability  I  charged  to  my 
own  account.  Neither  for  my.  escape,  nor  for  any  other  purpose,  am  I  in 
debted  to  the  fund  of  the  Irish  Directory,  or  any  other  public  fund,  to 
the  value  of  one  cent. 

"I  am,   sir,   your  obedient  servant, 

"T.  F.  MEAGHER."] 

Shortly  after  Meagher's  hopeful  anticipations  of  the  future  found  utter 
ance  in.  the  foregoing  words,  he  enjoyed  the  two-fold  satisfaction  of  being 
reunited  to  his  wife  and  father. 

When  he  was  about  risking  the  chances  of  escape  from  Australia, 
arrangements  were  made  that,  in  case  of  his  success,  his  wife  should  pro 
ceed  to  Ireland,  and  from  thence  go  to  meet  him  in  New  York.  Accord 
ingly,  as  soon  as  his  safe  arrival  in  America  was  announced  in  Australia, 
Mrs.  Meagher  took  passage  for  Europe  under  the  protection  of  a  Catholic 
Bishop  —  her  fellow-passenger.  Arrived  in  Ireland,  she  proceeded  to  her 
husband's  home  in  Waterford,  where  she  met  with  an  Irish  welcome  both 
from  Mr.  Meagher,  senior,  and  the  citizens  in  general.  From  Waterford,  in 
company  of  her  father-in-law,  she  went  to  rejoin  her  husband  in  America. 
It  was  a  most  happy  reunion  for  the  three. 


A   CLEAR    FIELD  AXD  NO  FAVOR. 


The  ensuing  summer  and  autumn  they  spent  together  traveling  through 
the  country,  visiting  Niagara,  the  Catskill  Mountains,  Lake  George  and  other 
places.  On  the  approach  of  winter,  the  delicate  state  of  Mrs.  Meagher's 
health  necessitated  her  removal  to  a  milder  climate,  and  as  at  the  same 
time,  Meagher  had  made  arrangements  for  a  lecture  tour  in  California,  his 
wife  and  father  returned  to  Ireland  —  the  lady  intending  to  rejoin  her  hus 
band,  after  his  return  from  the  Golden  State.  (But  God  willed  it  othewiS3, 
for  she  died  that  winter,  in  Ireland,  after  giving  birth  to  a  son). 

[NOTE.  —  MRS.  MEAGHER  died  at  her  father-in-law's  residence  in  Water- 
ford,  on  the  9th  of  May,  1854.  in  the  twenty-second  year  of  her  age.  She 
had  been  in  Ireland  since  the  previous  October,  and  intended  to  leave,  for 
the  purpose  of  rejoining  her  husband  in  the  beginning  of  June ;  but  a  vio 
lent  fever  intervened,  and  separated  them  for  all  time.  Never  was  a  death 
in  that  city  by  the  Suir,  more  pathetically  and  universally  lamented. 

In  the  meantime  Meagher's  departure  for  California  was  postponed  by 
the  news  of  John  Mitchel's  escape  from  Australia,  and  his  expected  arrival 
in  New  York.  The  former  determined  to  participate  in  his  friend's  recep 
tion  before  leaving  for  the  Pacific  coast.  Their  meeting  took  place  on  the 
29th  of  November,  1853,  on  board  the  steamer  Prometheus,  from  San  Fran 
cisco,  on  that  vessel's  arrival  at  Pier  3,  North  River.  From  thence  they 
proceeded  together  to  Mitchel's  mother's  house  in  Brooklyn,  where,  on  that 
night,  at  an  ovation  tendered  Mitchel  by  the  Irish  military  organizations  o. 
New  York,  Meagher,  when  addressing  the  assemblage  was  asked  by  one 
of  the  soldiers,  "What  about  the  sword?"  and  promptly  replied  — u  The 
sword  will  lead  if  the  bayonets  will  follow!" 


CHAPTER    LVI. 


FROM  DECEMBER,    1S53,    TO   APRIL,    1SG1. 

(HAVING,  in  the  foregoing  portion  of  this  Memoir,  recorded  in  detail 
the  most  essential  events  of  Meagher's  career  down  to  the  time  of  John 
Mitchel's  arrival  in  America  — the  proposed  limits  of  the  work,  and  the 


342  MEMOIRS    OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

necessity  of  devcting  as  much  space  as  possible  to  hi?  military  career,  ren 
ders  it  advisable  that  the  record  of  the  intervening  seven  years  of  his  life 
should  be  condensed  into  as  brief  a  space  as  can  be  found  consistent  with 
a  due  notice  of  important  facts.  Therefore,  the  present  chapter  shall  be 
devoted  to  a  concise  summary  of  his  actions  during  the  period  referred  to). 

MEAGHER  AS  A  JOURNALIST. 

Before  his  departure  for  California  in  Decemher.  1853,  Meagher  agreed 
to  assist  John  Mitchel  in  founding  and  conducting  a  new  weekly  journal. 
to  be  called  "  THE  CITIZEN."  The  following  extract  from  the  Prospectus 
will  explain  the  actuating  motives  of  the  associate  editors :  — 

"  They  refuse  to  believe  that  Irishmen  at  home  are  so  abject  as  to  be 
'  loyal '  to  the  Sovereign  of  Great  Britain,  or  that  Irishmen  in  America  can 
endure  the  thought  of  accepting  the  defeat  which  has  driven  them  from  the 
laud  of  their  fathers,  and  made  that  beloved  land  an  object  of  pity  and 
contempt  to  the  world." 

The  first  number  of  the  Citizen  was  issued  on  the  7th  of  January.  1845. 
Never,  before  or  since,  was  there  such  a  demand  for  any  organ  of  Irish 
Nationality  published  in  the  United  States. 

Meagher's  first  contribution  appeared  in  the  second  number.  It  was  en 
titled  "  IRISH  ORATORS,"  and  was  intended  as  the  first  of  a  series  of  rough 
sketches  of  Ireland's  most  eminent  public  speakers.  Grattan,  Curreu,  and 
O'Connell,  furnished  the  subjects  for  the  initiatory  article.  The  sketches 
were  drawn  by  a  master  hand,  and  constituted  the  outlines  of  most  alabor- 
ately  finished  pictures  with  which  the  artist  subsequently  delighted  the 
admirers  of  Irish  genius. 

The  article  was  written  "  On  board  the  Star  of  the  West,"  off  Kingston, 
Jamaica,  en  route  to  Aspiuwall." 

About  this  time  Mr.  James  Houghton,  a  Quaker  merchant  of  Dublin, 
and  a  monomaniac  on  the  question  of  American  slavery,  published  a  letter 
addressed  to  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  in  which  he  undertook  to  lecture  him 
on  his  duties  in  his  new  sphere  of  action,  —  one  extract  from  this  "solemn 
warning "  will  suffice  to  show  the  assumption  of  this  meddlesome  crank. 

"  Be  consistent,  then,  and  while  you  are  in  a  land  of  slave-drivers  sanc 
tion  not  their  denial  of  civil  and  social  rights  to  the  colored  people  by  your 
silence,  or  you  will  become  a  participator  in  these  wrongs.  *  *  *  You 
cannot  stop  short  on  the  threshold  of  the  temple  —  you  must  enter  boldly 


DECEMBER    1853.   TO  APRIL.  1861.  343 

into    the    interior, — and    there,    in    the    face    of    men    and    angels,    proclaim 
yourself  u   true   disciple." 

To  this  provoking  fanatic,  Mr.  Meagher  vouchsafed  the  following  sen 
sible  and  dignified  reply  :  — 

MR.  MEAGHER  TO  MR.  HOUGHTON. 

ST.   CHARLES  HOTEL,  NEW  ORLEANS, 

March    24th,    1854. 

"Mr.  Meagher  presents  his  compliments  to  Mr.  Houghton,  and  begs  to 
state  that  he  does  not  recognize  iu  Mr.  Houghtou.  nor  any  other  person, 
noi  the  public  generally,  auy  right  or  title  whatsoever  to  require  from  him 
an  expression  of  opinion  respecting  the  question  of  African  slavery  in 
America. 

"  Mr.  Meagher  holds  himself,  upon  all  such  questions,  wholly  irrespon 
sible  for  his  opinions,  his  silence,  or  his  action,  to  Mr.  Houghtou.  or  to 
any  other  gentleman,  or  to  the  public  at  large,  or  any  portion  thereof. 

"Mr.  Meagher  begs  leave  to  add,  that  he  has  taken  the  preparatory 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  constitution,  laws,  and  sovereignty  of  the  llepublic 
of  the  United  States;  that  he  is'not  yet  a  citizen;  that  three  years  have 
yet  to  elapse  before  he  is  one,  that  he  postpones  till  then  his  declaration 
of  opinion  regarding  African  slavery  in  America,  and  every  other  question 
affecting  the  joint  compact  and  constitution  of  the  several  States."' 

This  letter  was  written  the  day  after  Meagher  lauded  in  New  Orleans 
—  on  his  return  from  California.  His  lecturing  tour  through  the  "Golden 
State"  was,  in  every  way  successful,  as  was  its  continuation  through  the 
Southern  cities,  on  his  journey  back  to  New  York  —  where,  with  the  pro 
ceeds  of  his  labors,  he  intended  to  establish  a  new  home.  Alas !  for  his 
blissful  anticipations !  — 

"  The  gold  is  all  mine,  now,  I've  no  one  to  share, 
But  for  treasure,  or  pleasure,  'tis  little  I  care." 

During  the  remainder  of  that  year,  he  could  not  devote  his  mind  to 
any  settled  course  of  action.  A  portion  of  the  time  he  passed  in  the  study 
of  law,  in  the  office  of  Judge  Emmet,  but,  after  being  admitted  to  the 
bar,  the  proiessiou  appears  to  have  lost  its  attractions  for  him,  —  as  his 
speech  in  the  defence  of  Colonel  Fabeus  indicted  for  participating  in  Gen 
eral  Walker's  invasion  of  Nicaragua  —  was  the  only  notable  one  he  ever 


344  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

delivered  in  a  United  Stares  court  of  law.  lie  contributed  some  articles, 
political  and  literary  —  to  the  Citizen  during  Mitchel's  connection  with  that 
journal. 

THE  CRIMEAN  WAR —  AND  THE  HOPES  IT  INSPIRED. 

The  year  1855  opened  auspiciously  for  the  cause  of  the  Irish  Nationalists. 
The  Crimean  War  was  then  at  its  height.  England's  necessities  had  depleted 
her  Irish  garrison,  and  the  hopes  engendered  by  her  difficulties  gave  a  fresh 
impetus  to  the  existing  Irish-American  military  organizations,  and  led  to  the 
formation  of  another  for  the  special  purpose  of  preparing  for  the  opportu 
nity  that  all  expected  would  be  soon  afforded  them.  This  new  Irish  Revo 
lutionary  Society  was  known  as  the  "Emmet  Monument  Association."  It 
spread  rapidl}',  until  it  numbered  within  its  ranks  the  greater  portion  of 
the  organized  Irish  Nationalists  throughout  the  chief  cities  of  the  Union, 
while  in  New  York  it  numbered  more  armed  and  disciplined  men,  pledged 
to  the  cause  of  Ireland's  freedom,  than  there  have  been  at  any  period 
since. 

The  leaders  of  this  organization  —  including  John  O'Mahony,  Michael 
Doheny,  and  Michael  Corcoran  —  entered  into  confidential  communications 
with  the  representatives  of  Russia  in  Washington  and  New  York,  and  had 
so  satisfied  the  latter  gentleman  of  the  power  oi  the  Irish  element  in 
America,  and  of  the  expediency  of  Russia's  aiding  their  project  of  creating  a 
revolutioa  in  inland,  and  thus  striking  at  the  British  Empire  in  its  most 
vital  part,  that  the  Consul  held  out  the  strongest  hopes  of  their  obtaining 
from  his  Government  all  the  material  aid  they  required  —  namely,  the  means 
of  fitting  out  an  armed  expedition  to  Ireland. 

Though  Thomas  Francis  Meagher  was  not  an  actually  enrolled  member 
of  the  Emmet  Monument  Association — (which  was  an  essentially  secret 
organization)  —  yet  he  was  well  aware  of  its  existence  and  its  purpose,  and 
labored  effectually  to  forward  its  objects.  By  a  series  of  lectures  on  Irish 
patriotic  subjects,  which  he  delivered  in  every  quarter  of  the  Union  during 
that  year  of  promise,  he  infused  his  own  glowing  hopes  into  the  hearts  of 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  his  fellow-exiles,  set  ihem  panting  with  ardor 
for  the  opportunity  of  aiding  in  their  fulfilment,  and  to  enable  them  to 
do  so  effectually,  he  inculcated  upon  them  the  necessity  of  familiarizing 
themselves  with  the  use  of  arms. 

The  sudden  termination  of  the  Crimean  war,  put  an  end  to  all  hopes 
of  assistance  from  Russia,  and,  soon  after  peace  was  proclaimed,  it  was 


DECEMBER,  1853,   TO  APRIL,   1S61.  345 

deemed  expedient  by  the  directors  of  the  Emmet  Monument  Association  to 
formally  dissolve  that  organization,  and  release  the  members  from  their 
pledges.  Before  this  course  was  taken,  however,  they  took  the  precaution 
of  first  forming  a  permanent  committee,  consisting  of  thirteen  men,  repre 
sentatives  of  the  several  divisions  of  the  society. 

This  committee  were  empowered  to  resuscitate  the  organization  whenever 
they  deemed  the  proper  time  had  come  for  taking  such  a  step. 

(After  an  interregnum  of  two  years,  these  ever-watchful  patriots,  deem 
ing  that  the  time  had  arrived  for  renewing  the  preparations  for  an  Irish 
revolutionary  movement,  commenced  the  formation  of  a  new  organization, 
which  they,  at  first,  designated  the  "Irish  Revolutionary  Brotherhood,"  but 
which  name,  for  adequate  reasons,  was  subsequently  changed  for  that  of 
,.he  "FENIAN  BROTHERHOOD.'') 

JJr.AGHER's  AMERICAN  WIFE. 

In  the  spring  of  1856.  Mr.  Meagher  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Townsend, 
of  New  York,  a  young  lady  as  noble-minded  as  she  was  beautiful  and 
accomplished.  Brought  up  in  a  different  creed  from  his,  when  accepting  his 
hand  and  heart,  she  made  his  faith  her  own ;  aud  thenceforth,  she  became 
one  of  the  most  eminent  Caltholic  ladies  of  America  for  her  zealous  devotion 
to  that  faith  as  manifested  in  good  works.  What  a  blessing  she  was  to  her 
distinguished-  husband  — during  the  eleven  years  of  their  wedded  life  —  the 
world  can  never  know.  Among  the  millions  of  his  admirers,  none  more 
thoroughly  appreciated  his  genius,  the  self-sacrificing  patriotism  he  manfested 
to  his  native  land,  or  his  heroic  devotion  and  transcendent  services  to  the 
land  of  his  adoption. 

One  who  knew  them  intimately,  —  Charles  G.  Ilalpiue  (Miles  O'Reilly,)  — 
in  writing  of  General  Meagher's  death,  pays  this  tribute  to  his  bereaved 
lady. 

"  How  noble  a  wife  she  has  been  —  with  what  fidelity  of  warm  devotion 
she  has  clung  to  the  varying  fortunes  of  hfr  brilliant  but  erratic  lord  — 
only  those  could  tell  whose  lips  must  remain  silent  under  the  seal  of  social 
relationship.  Reared  in  luxury,  aud  as  much  flattered  and  followed  for  her 
beauty  as  Meagher  had  been  in  early  days  for  his  genius  and  gift  of  elo 
quence,  she  never  faltered  in  her  allegiance  to  the  exile,  who  reached  his 
highest  fortune  when  he  won  her  heart.  Whither  he  went  she  followed 
him,  .his  people  indeed  became  her  people,  and  his  God  she  made  her 
God." 


346  MEMOIRS    OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

To  this  may  be  added  —  that  the  steadfast  devotion  with  which  she 
clings  to  her  hero's  memory;  the  prideful  enthusiasm  which  she  feels  in 
his  fame,  and  the  affectionate  care  with  which  she  cherishes  every  me 
mento  he  has  left  for  eye  and  heart  to  dwell  upon  in  the  loneliness  of 
her  widowed  home  —  entitles  this  noble  lady  to  the  warmest  place  in  the 
heart  of  the  Nation  that  glories  in  the  name  and  fame  of  THOMAS  FRAN 
CIS  MEAGHER. 

,''    PUBLICATION  OF  THE  IRISH  NEWS. 

Shortly  after  his  settlement  in  his  new  home,  Mr.  Meagher  determined 
to  publish  a  newspaper  of  his  own  —  to  be  dedicated  to  the  service  of  the 
Irish  people  at  home  and  abroad. 

Accordingly,  011  the  12th  of  April,  1S56,  the  first  number  of  the  "  IRISH 
NEWS  "  appeared,  edited  by  the  proprietor.  Associated  with  Mr.  Meagher 
in  the  management  of  the  paper,  were  the  following  efficient  staff:  —  Mr. 
James  Roche,  formerly  Editor  of  the  Kilkenny  Journal,  assistant  editor,  Mr. 
John  Savage — then  in  the  foremost  rank  of  contemporary  American  contri 
butors  to  the  periodical  press — was  the  literary  editor;  and  Mr.  Richard 
J.  Lalor,  the  u  Business  Manager." 

The  regular  Dublin  correspondent  was  Mr.  Meagher's  old  comrade  and 
school- fellow,  Patrick  J.  Smith  —  the  rescuer  of  John  Mitchel  —  whose  letters 
signed  "KILMAIMIAM,"  embodied  in  the  most  epigrammatic  and  humorous 
style  of  gossipy  narrative,  all  the  salient  features  of  current  events  on  the 
old  sod  —  with  laughable  reminiscences  cf  various  celebrities,  cranks,  and 
humbugs,  known  to  the  two  of  old.  Another  old-time  friend  and  com 
rade  of  Meagher's,  —  Thomas  W.  Condon  —  the  "poet-smith  of  Waterford, '» 
contributed  an  occasional  racy  letter  —  bubbling  over  with  Munster  humor 
—  from  their  native  city.  Robert  Sheltou  MacKeuzie,  William  Dowe,  and 
other  well  known  writers  in  prose  and  verse,  also  contributed  to  the  new 
journal. 

But  the  chief  attraction  of  the  IRISH  NEWS  was  the  Editor's  inimitable 
"Personal  Recollections,1'  so  redolent  of  his  native  humor,  pathos,  and  won 
derfully  descriptive  power. 

Those  papers  included  reminiscences  of  the  leading  men  and  events  in 
Ireland  from  1843  to  1848  — "  The  Irish  and  English  Jesuits,"  "  The  '82 
Club,''  sketches  of  eminent  Irish  orators,  and  of  travel  by  land  and  sea,  of 


DECEMBER,   2853,    TO  APRIL,    1861.  347 

the    Irish    in    Australia,   South    America,   and  California,   with    descriptions  of 
Irish  scenery  and  customs,   &c.* 

Under  all  these  fortuitous  circumstances,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  IRISH 
NEWS  prospered  from  the  beginning,  and  gained  steadily  in  public  estima 
tion  while  iAs  founder  continued  to  give  it  his  personal  support  and  super 
intendence. 

TRAVELS  ix  CENTRAL  AMERICA. 

After  nearly  two  years  of  constant  attendance  in  the  Irish  News  office  — 
(save  some  brief  intervals  devoted  to  lecturing)  —  Meagher  wearied  of  the 
monotonous  confinement,  and  longed  for  a  new  sphere  of  action,  more  suit 
able  to  his  adventurous  tastes  and  naturally  active  habits.  With  this  object 
he  made  an  engagement  with  the  publishers  of  Harper's  Magazine,  whereby 
he  was  to  travel  through  some  of  the  States  of  Central  America,  and  fur 
nish  a  series  of  articles  on  his  observations  therein. 

In  his  letter  to  Mr.  Roche  —  committing  the  editorial  management  of  the 
Irisk  News  to  that  gentleman's  care  during  his  absence.  —  he  thus  explains 
the  object  of  his  journey :  — 

"I  visit  Central  America,  —  Costa  Rica  especially  —  for  the  purpose  of 
ascertaining  the  true  condition  of  affairs  there,  and  becoming  familiar  with 
a  noble  region,  for  which  there  inevitably  approaches  an  eventful  future.  I 
go  there  to  collect  material  for  lectures  and  writings  upon  the  country, 
and  have  the  good  fortune  to  be  accompanied  by  an  old  schoolfellow  of 
mine,  Ramon  Paez,  the  eldest  son  of  General  Paez  of  Venezuela,  whose 
name  alone  will  be  to  me  a  passport  of  the  highest  value.  Paez  is  an 
accomplished  linguist,  a  botanist,  a  geologist,  and  a  splendid  draughts 
man.  He  takes  the  scientific  and  artistic  portion  of  the  work.  I  shall 
endeavor  to  do  the  rest,  whatever  that  may  be." 

One  result  of  their  combined  labors,  on  this  occasion,  may  be  found  in 
Harper's  Magazine  for  "1858,  in  a  series  of  articles  entitled  "  Holidays  in 
Costa  Rica,  Illustrated;"  another  in  the  brilliantly  descriptive  lectures  OE 
the  subject  —  which  Meagher  delivered  in  the  principal  cities  of  the  Uuiou 
during  the  months  succeeding  his  return  to  New  York. 


*If  published  in  a  collective  form,  Meagher's  "Personal  Recollections"  would  constl. 
tute  one  of  the  most  delightful  volumes  in  the  whole  range  of  Irish  miscellaneous  lltera 
tnre. 


348  3JEMOIES   OF  VEX.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 


SMITH  O'BRIEN  IN  AMERICA. 

In  the  spring  following  his  return  from  Cosra  Rica.  Meagher  had  the 
intense  gratification  of,  once  more,  greeting  his  illustrious  friend  and  fellow- 
exile,  WilJiam  Smith  O'Brien,  who  visittd  the  United  Sates  for  needful  recre 
ation —  the  recuperation  of  a  naturally  strong  constitution  —  sadly  impaired 
by  protracted  physical  and  mental  suffering  —  and  also,  for  the  purpose  of 
studying,  by  the  aid  of  personal  observation,  the  practical  working  of  Repub 
lican  institutions, in  the  theatre  of  their  freest  and  most  perfect  development. 

After  a  gratifying  stay  of  several  months,  during  which  he  visited  most 
of  the  States  of  the  Union,  and  wa»  everywhere  received  with  honor  and 
the  warmest  hospitality,  Mr.  O'Brien  sailed  from  New  York  for  home,  on 
Saturday,  June  4th,  1859.  His  last  days  in  America  were  spent  as  the  guest 
of  Peter  Townsend,  Esq. —  Mr.  Meagher's  fathcr-m-law  —  at  129  Fifth  avenue. 
During  this  period,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Meagher,  he  called  upon  his  (  ~acc 
Archbishop  Hughes,  Robert  Emmet,  and  his  old  compatriots  of  '48,  John 
O'Mahony,  Michael  Doheny,  Dr.  O'Hanlou  (his  old  neighbor  from  llathkeale,) 
James  Roche,  and  others. 

The  last  afternoon  he  devoted  to  Mrs.  Mitchel,  —  the  venerable  mother 
of  John  Mitchel  —  where  he  had  the  gratification  of  meeting  Dr.  Antisell* 
and  other  friends. 

The  popular  demonstration  on  the  occasion  of  Smith  O'Brien's  departure 
for  Ireland  was  one  of  the  greatest  outpourings  of  the  Irish  element  ever 
witnessed  in  Xew  York— before  the  war.  The  procession  of  civic  and  mili 
tary  societies  formed  m  Union  Square  early  in  the  morning.  At  half-past 
nine-  o'clock  Sin  ah  O'Brien,  attended  by  T.  F.  Meagher,  John  Mitchel,  Dr. 
Antisell  and  Judge  O'Connor,  proceeded  to  the  residence  of  Thomas  E.  Davis, 
Esq.,  39  Union  square,  where  a  large  party  assembled  to  meet  him.  Here 
he  was  presented  with  an  address  by  a  deputation  from  the  Irish  civic  and 
military  bodies,  to  which,  standing  between  his  friends  Mitchei  and  Meagher, 
he  delivered  a  lengthy  reply,  which  was  heartily  applauded. 

While  the  procession  was  forming  Meagher,  Mitchel,  Dr.  Antisell  and 
Judge  O'Coui.or  went  on  Board  the  steamship  Vigo,  the  vessel  that  was  to 
carry  O'Brien  home.  It  was  to  them  that,  in  accents  of  affectionate  regret, 
he  addressed  his  last  '•  Goud  Bye!  and  God  Bless  You!" 


*Dr.  Anti=pn.  -  ow    of       asuiugton,  \&    the    sole    survivor   of    all   the  abov    e  mentioned 
f   tn&»  of  Ireland. 


THE    PRINCE    OF    WALES'     VISIT.  349 


CHAPTER    LVII. 


TIIE    PRINCE    OF    WALES'    VISIT    TO     AMERICA.  —  MEAGHER    ON 

CORCORAN. 

IN  the  summer  of  18GO  Meagher  set  out  on  another  visit  to  Central 
America,  and,  during  the  period  of  his  absence  there,  an  event  took  place 
in  New  York,  which,  in  its  far-reaching  consequences,  not  only  led  to  the 
shaping  of  his  own  future  career,  but  might  be  said  to  have  marked  the 
commencement  of  a  new  epoch  in  the  history  of  his  race,  on  this  conti 
nent. 

That  event  was  the  arrival  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  in  the  Empire  City, 
and  the  refusal  of  Colonel  Michael  Corcoran  to  order  out  the  Sixty-ninth 
Regiment  to  parade  in  honor  of  "/it's  mother's  son.''' 

The  history  of  the  transaction  has  been  told  in  the  columns  of  ten 
thousand  newspapers  at  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  and  it  will  continue  be 
be  told  through  succeeding  generations  of  our  freedom-loving  people.  As 
one  personally  conversant  with  its  leading  circumstances  —  from  my  intimate 
relations  with  the  heroic  soldier  who  so  nobly  upheld  the  honor  of  our 
country, — I  might,  if  so  inclined,  add  another  to  the  many  versions  of  the 
story  heretofore  published,  —  all  agreeing  in  the  main  facts  —  though  differing 
in  details,  —  but  for  the  fact  that,  in  this  "Memoir,"  it  was  essential  that 
I  s-hould  include  Meagher's  eloquent  Oration  on  General  Corcoran,  and  as 
that  embodies  the  most  brilliant  and  lucid  recital  of  the  soldier's  contempt 
for  the  House  of  Guelf  —  and  the  reasons  therefor  —  that  I  have  seen,  I 
give  it  place  here. 

The  Oration  on  General  Corcoran  was  delivered  in  the  hall  of  the  Cooper 
Institute,  New  York,  on  Friday  evening,  January  22d,  1864,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Fenian  Brotherhood  —  of  the  military  portion  of  which  General  Cor 
coran  had  command.  The  oration  was  free,  the  admission  being  by  tickets 
distributed  through  the  proper  channel.  The  assemblage  was  the  largest 
ever  seen  in  that  immense  hall :  hundreds  had  to  go  away  unable  to  obtain 
standing-room.  The  following  report  is  taken  from  the  daily  papers :  — 

"The  platform   was  occupied    by  the    officers    of    the  old   69th  and  those 


350  J1EMOIES  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

of  the  Irish  Brigade  and  Irish  Legion  then  in  the  city,  with  many  of  the 
Phoenix  Brigade  and  civic  organizations  of  the  F.  B.,  the  Father  Mathew 
and  Longshore  Men's  societies,  "Knights  of -St.  Patrick,"  and  a  number  of 
prominent  citizens. 

"  By  the  side  of  the  reading  desk,  near  the  centre  of  the  stage,  was 
placed  a  pedestal,  on  which  was  a  splendid  bust  of  General  Corcoran  by 
Draddy,  the  sculptor.  On  either  side  of  the  pedestal  were  the  Irish  and 
American  flags  of  the  Phoenix  Zouaves,  draped  in  mourning,  and  held  by 
two  young  boys  arrayed  in  ;he  uniform  of  that  organization. 

At  eight  o'clock,  iir.  John  O'Mahony,  attended  by  the  orator  of  the 
evening,  appeared  on  the  stage.  After  the  applause  which  greeted  their 
presence  had  subsided,  Mr.  O'Mahony  briefly  introduced  General  Meagher, 
who  commenced  his  oration  as  follows :  — 

GENERAL  MEAGIIEK'S  ORATION  ON  GENERAL  CORCORAN. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen  —  There  is  a  singularly  beautiful  and  affecting 
picture  given  by  Crof ton  Croker,  —  to  whose  genius  many  of  the  legends 
and  chronicles  of  Munster  owe  their  preservation,  —  that,  one  evening  about 
a  century  ago,  in  a  grand  old  domain  in  the  county  of  Cork,  an  old  man, 
apparently  asleep,  was  found  extended  on  the  ground  at  the  foot  of  an 
aged  tree.  The  owner  of  the  domain,  happening  to  pass  by  approached  the 
spot,  and,  finding  the  old  man  in  tears  of  the  bitterest  affliction,  enquired 
what  the  matter  was. 

"Forgive  me,  sir,  said  the  old  man;  "my  grief  is  idle;  but  to  mourn 
is  a  relief  to  the  desolate  heart  and  humbled  spirit.  I  am  a  McCarthy.  1 
was  once  possessor  of  the  castJe  that  is  now  ruins,  and  of  the  land  that 
is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  stranger.  This  tree  was  planted  by  me,  and  I 
have  returned  to  water  its  roots  with  my  tears.  To-morrow  I  will  sail  for 
Spain,  where  I  have  long  been  an  exile.  I  am  an  old  man,  and  to-night  prob- 
atly  for  the  last  time,  I  bid  farewell  to  the  laud  of  my  birth  and  the 
house  of  my  forefathers." 

The  love,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  of  one's  native  country,  of  which  this 
incident  is  a  striking  illustration,  and  of  which  the  words  of  that  aged 
exile  are  the  sad  but  glorious  expression,  does  not  confine  itself  to  the  scene 
of  one's  birth,  nor  to  that  of  his  childhood,  nor  yet  to  that  of  his  active 
and  expanding  manhood,  happy,  beautiful,  and  ennobled  by  nature  though 
it  be.  From  the  living  it  radiates  to  the  dead :  and  in  the  achievements 
of  eht  past,  this  love  of  country  finds  a  loftier  inspiration,  derives  from 


ME  AGREE    CL\    CORCORAN. 


new  events  and  asociations  a  fire  that  is  more  intense;  and  from  being 
a  pulsation  of  the  boy,  dilates  until  it  becomes  the  supreme  passion  of  the 
man.  The  history  of  the  nation  stimulates,  fortifies,  and  ennobles  it,  and 
kindles  it  with  rapture:  and  hence  come  those  utterances  of  sweetness,  or 
sublimity,  or  those  splendid  creatieus  which  replenish  the  treasure  of  its 
genius  and  preserve  its  less  perishable  trophies  (applause).  That  this  love 
of  one's  native  country — whether  it  displays  itself  in  milder  or  fiercer 
moods  —  is  incompatible  with  the  duties  required  by  the  country  to  which 
the  emigrant  transplants  himself;  that  it  interferes  in  any  way  with  such 
duties,  or  the  relations  that  should  exist  in  perfect  good  faith  and  cordial 
ity  between  the  latter  and  former;  that,  indeed,  so  far  from  this  being 
the  case,  these  relations  grow  all  the  stronger  and  the  heartier,  and  the 
duties  in  question  are  discharged  more  freely  in  proportion  to  the  intensity 
of  that  love,  —  the  career  of  the  loyal  citizen  and  brave  soldier  in  whose 
memory  we  lovingly,  proudly,  and  reverently  meet  to-night  —  short  as  it 
was  — solemnly  proves  as  it  splendidly  attests.  (Cneers). 

Early  in  the  fall  of  I860,  as  you  must  all  remember,  there  arrived  in 
this  city  a  young  gentleman  of  high  family  and  great  expectations  (hisses,) 
who  had  been  visiting  a  portion  of  his  estates  on  the  other  side  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  and  was  about  to  finish  his  education  by  a  trip  through  that 
livelier  portion  which  his  great-grandfather  lost,  and  which  has  wonderfully 
improved  since  the  forfeiture  took  place.  (Cheers  and  laughter).  Genitu, 
accomplished,  possessing  the  manliness,  gifted  with  the  natural  graces,  hav 
ing  had  the  intellectual  training  of  a  young  English  gentleman,  even  where 
his  splendid  prospects  failed  to  excite  au  interest,  he  brought  those  creden 
tials  which  command  the  courtesies  and  receive  the  hospitalities  of  society. 

A  startling  curiosity,  amongst  and  above  all  the  novelties  which  roll  in 
golden  waves  upon  these  shores  —  the  eldest  son  of  a  queen,  upon  whose 
brow  glitters  the  oldest  and  costliest  diadem  in  the  world ;  the  highest  of 
an  aristocracy  claiming  the  loftiest  names  in  Europe,  inheriied  by  virtue  of 
musty  parchments  and  indistinguishable  tombstones,  (laughter) ;  the  heir  of 
an  empire  belted  by  the  zodiac,  to  the  high  reputation  of  which  a  crowd 
of  celebrities  has  contributed,  until  at  last  it  may  be  said  to  monopolize 
the  earth  and  invade  the  sky; — a  visitor  with  such  antecedents,  with  such  a 
position,  with  such  expectations,  could  not  surely  be  looked  for  in  New  York 
without  the  inquisitiveness  of  the  people  being  excited.  Besides  which,  a  victo 
rious  people  might  compromise  themselves,  and  lose  credit  in  the  community 
and  eclat  in  the  social  world,  if  they  were  stinted  in  their  munificence  to  the 
distinguished  stranger;  and  then,  again,  what  more  rational  and  salutary  than 


352  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

a  people,  devoted  to  the  acquisition  of  wealth,  exhausting  their  vitality  in 
unremitting  activity,  straining  for  new  excitement  in  the  way  of  business, 
with  their  minds  ever  on  the  rack,  and  their  daring  and  adventurous  spirit 
on  the  wing,  should  seek  for  great  relief  in  great  distractions,  and  give 
way  under  extraordinary  impulses  to  extraordinary  relaxations  —  all  these 
facts  and  probabilities  conceded,  no .  wonder  that,  early  in  the  Fall  of  1SGO, 
we  had  such  feverishness  in  Xew  York,  and,  with  the  wholesome  intention 
of  having  temporary  relief  from  business,  merchants,  artizans,  bill  brokers 
and  bill  posters,  pill  compounders  and  rat  exterminators,  "Ticket-of-Leave 
Men"  and  "Jolly  Peddlers,"  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  went  crazy  with 
excitement. 

"What  though  the  great-grandfather  of  this  young  Prince  did  many  things 
to  aggrieve,  exasperate,  damage,  ruin  the  fortunes,  make  desolate  the  homes, 
and,  in  the  end,  engulf  our  grandfathers  in  blood;  what  though  the  sugar 
houses  and  prison  ships  could  tell  many  a  tale  of  horror,  and  the  red  marks 
of  those  days  have  not  yet  been  thoroughly  effaced,  and  the  flames  in  which 
the  archives  of  the  national  capital  were,  at  a  more  recent  period,  consumed, 
still  seemed  to  gleam  upon  the  Potomac:  what  of  all  this? 

Cornwallis  had  given  up  his  sword.  Andrew  Jackson  dealt  our  foes  a 
compensating  blow  at  New  Orleans.  Accounts  are  more  than  sqaare  between 
us.  Our  fleets  divide  with  theirs  the  domain  of  the  seas.  In  the  first  fifty 
years  of  our  existence  we  equal  them  in  all  the  essentials  of  a  nation.  In 
another  fifty  years  we  shall  overtop  them.  As  a  successful  people  we  can 
afford  to  be  pleasant  and  lavish  our  attentions,  and  sink  these  memories  in 
oblivion,  now  that  the  plumes  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  unfold  themselves 
from  the  Battery,  and  he  comes  to  place  a  leather  m  the  cap  of  Liberty, 
as  Yankte  Doodle 

•'  Stuck  a  feather  in  his  cap, 
And  called  It  Macaruiii."     (Laughter). 

The  speaker  then  reviewed  the  scenes  that  occurred  on  the  landing  of 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  which  were  still  Iresh  in  the  memory  of  the 
audience,  and  added  :  — 

Nor  can  you  forget  to-night  that  there  was  one  man,  ?elf-conscious,  stern, 
impassive,  indomitable,  as  he  always  was,  but  never  more  so  than  at  that 
time  —  who  conspicuously  stood  aloof,  and  bravely  refused  to  participate  in 
the  ovation  to  the  expectant  inheritor  of  that  crown  under  the  weight  of 
\\hich  the  liberties  of  his  country  had  been  crushed.  (Great  applause). 
Against  the  public  feeling  of  the  day,  headlong  and  sweeping  as  it  was,  a 


ME  AGREE    ON  COECOEAN.  353 

man  less   staunch  and  fearless  than  Michael   Corcoran,  would  not  have  stood. 
(Renewed  applause). 

Where  the  public  feeling  rushes  in  so  broad  a  current  as  it  did  at  the 
time  I  speak  of,  auu  mirthfulness  and  hospitality  ride  upon  the  tide  and 
invite  all  to  swell  their  train,  it  takes  something  sterner  than  the  courage 
which  serenely  fac.__  danger  to  resist  the  generous  influence.  ood  menr 
brave  men,  who  would  not  do  a  mean  or  paltry  act  for  all  the  riches  the 
world  could  place  at  their  feet  —  men  who  would  dare  the  world  in  armsr 
and  laugh  to  scorn  the  angriest  faction  and  scurviest  demagogues,  while 
conscience  and  the  power  and  pride  of  intellect  sustained  them,  might  well, 
at  such  a  time,  hesitate  to  separate  themselves  from  the  people,  when  the 
act  would  seem  like  churlishness,  and  vain  conceit  and  eccentricity  be  the 
mildest  explanation  it  would  be  likely  to  receive.  These  are  the  errors 
which  undermine  and  overthrow  the  loftiest  characters,  and  enervate  the 
the  sternest  —  the  fears  which  paralyze  the  boldest  hearts.  Thus  it  is 
world  triumphs;  and  thus  it  is  the  crippling  or  extinction  of  all  vigorous 
and  chivalrous  heroism  becomes  a  debasing  and  deadly  policy  of  the  day. 

Implacable  foes  to  such  a  policy,  thanks  be  to  Heaven,  there  are  men 
in  this  gregarious  generation  who  will  assert  their  independence,  and  stand 
ing  erect  and  intractable  in  their  integrity,  as  Michael  Corcoran  did,  will 
do  and  say  what  they  believe  it  right  for  them  to  say  and  do,  even  though 
they  stand  alone. 

I  was  in  Central  America  at  the  time,  and  cannot  speak  from  personal 
observation ;  but  I  well  remember  the  criticism  which  the  action  of  the 
Colonel  of  the  old  69th,  in  reference  to  the  Prince  of  Wales  (hisses,)  called 
forth,  and  the  charges  and  suspicions  with  which,  by  reason  of  that  action, 
he  and  they  were  violently  assailed. 

He  refused,  as  I  have  already  said,  and  as  the  world  has  long  since 
been  told,  to  participate  in  that  reception.  He  refused  lawfully  as  a  citizen, 
courageously  as  a  soldier,  indignantly  as  an  Irishman  (cheers) ;  refused  to 
parade  his  stalwart  regiment  in  honor  of  the  beardless  youth,  who,  suc 
ceeding  to  the  spoils  of  the  Tuco:-s  and  Stuarts  was  destined  one  day  to 
wield  the  sceptre  that  had  been  the  scourge  of  Ireland,  when  it  might  be 
destined  to  consecrate  to  another  spell  of  royalty  and  government  the  land 
in  which  the  House  of  Hanover,  with  all  its  stupidity  and  blundering,  has 
had  genius  enough  to  perpetuate  the  curse  of  Cromwell  (cheers,)  to  parade 
his  regiment  in  honor  of  this  prince  —  respectable  and  amiable  personally  as 
he  was,  would  be,  for  him  to  cancel  the  protests  which  had  been  made 


354  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

by  the  Irish  race  for  centuries,  on  the  battle-field,  in  captivity,  at  the  stake, 
on  the  scaffold,  in  exile,  in  hunger,  in  rags  and  desolation,  but  everywhere 
and  always  in  defiance  against  the  invasion  and  supremacy  of  the  Saxon, 
and  the  subjugation  of  Ireland  to  a  foreign  yoke.  (Great  cheering). 

Whatever  the  consequences,  whatever  might  be  said,  however  rude  for 
the  moment  the  act  might  seem,  no  matter  what  the  public,  or  fashion 
able  society,  or  cocked  hats,  or  flunkeys,  or  fossils,  or  the  whole  of  them 
might  say,  he  woul,d  not  lift  his  bayonets  or  dip  his  colors  to  the  Prince, 
against  whose  claims  to  the  sovereignty  of  his  native  laud,  it  was  the  dar 
ling  wish  and  purpose  of  his  heart  one  day.  at  the  head  of  his  regiment,  — 
when  some  more  propitious  Summer  then  that  of  '48,  should  dawn  in  splen 
dor  upon  the  clouded  fortunes  of  the  Irish  race  —  to  dispute  and  extinguish 
forever.  (Great  cheering). 

A  Voice  —  UA   cheer   for  the   men   of   "48."     (Renewed  cheering). 

-And  what  did  the  public  generally  say  to  this?  They  said  it  was  out 
of  place.  They  said  it  was  going  too  far.  They  said  it  was  all  wrong, 
and  that  Michael  Corcoran  would  find  that  he  had  made  a  great  mistake. 
Others  said  that  it  was  an  insult  to  the  people  of  Xew  York:,  that  Michael  Cor 
coran  had  snubbed  and  defied  them;  that  he  was  an  utterly  unreliable  character; 
and  for  his  insubordination  and  bad  faith  should  not  only  be  dismissed  from 
the  militia,  but  deprived  of  his  naturalization  papers  and  his  place  in  the 
Custom  House,  (Laughter  and  applause).  Some  went  so  far  as  to  say  that 
neither  he  nor  his  regiment  were  to  be  trusted  in  any  emergency.  That 
both  were  sure  to  be  false  to  their  military  obligations  should  their  servi 
ces  ever  be  required ;  that  they  were  nothing  less  than  double-dyed  trai 
tors  to  the  Commonwealth,  and  should  be  branded  as  such:  and  the  sooner 
the  one  was  broken  and  the  other  disbanded  with  every  proper  ceremony 
of  degradation,  the  better  it  would  be  for  the  safety  and  honor  of  Ne\\ 
York  in  particular,  and  the  Union  at  large. 

Against  these  sweeping  condemnations,  against  these  slanderous  assevera 
tions,  what  was  the  answer?  To  the  utter  confusion  of  those  who  had  the 
insolent  temerity  to  give  them  utterance,  in  what  measure  did  the  loyalty 
of  Michael  Corcoran  and  the  C9th  vindicate  itself! 

Ntver  was  loyalty,  good  faith,  devotion  to  the  government  and  the  Union, 
to  its  laws,  authority,  reunion  and  flag,  with  such  a  magnificent  excess 
displayed,  never  \vith  so  dazzling  an  effect  did  an  impeached  soldier  reverse 
the  tide  that  had  set  in  agaiust  him.  Bounding  to  his  feet  from  his  sick 
bed,  when  the  cry  of  "the  .Republic  is  in  danger'"  went  forth,  going  forth 


MEAGHER    ON  CORCORAN.  355 

himself  amongst  the  first  of  its  defenders,  consecrating  his  sword  and  life 
to  its  defence,  did  he  triumphantly  rebuke  the  dolts  and  drivellers  who  had 
averred  that  a  refusal  to  do  homage  to  a  foreign  prince  was  incompatible 
with  fidelity  to  the  Republic.  (Loud  cheers). 

You  remember,  and  never  can  forget,  that  sunny  day  in  April  1861, 
when  the  69th  left  this  city  with  a  sick  and  weary  young  Colonel  at  their 
head,  to  cross  bayonets  with  the  rebels,  and  bearing  aloft  the  green  flag 
presf  nted  to  them  in  commemoration  of  the  event  on  which  I  have  so  long 
dwelt,  gave  to  the  world  the  most  sacred  pledge  that  the  Irish  soldiers 
could  give,  that  as  they  had  been  true  to  the  land  of  their  birth,  her  memo 
ries,  wrongs,  and  character,  so  should  they  be  true  to  the  land  of  their 
adoption,  true  in  life  and  true  in  death  to  her  rights  to  a  nation,  her  sta 
bility,  her  entire  domain,  her  individual  jurisdiction,  her  power  and  glory. 
(Cheers). 

A  voice  —  Three  cheers  for  the  Irish  Brigade  and  the  man  that  com 
mands  it.  (Cheers). 

As  a  soldier,  Michael  Corcoran  furnished  in  his  brief  and  brilliant 
career,  a  remarkable  proof  of  the  adaptability  of  the  Irish  race  to  military 
pursuits.  Without  the  aid  of  scientific  tutors,  without  the  aid  even  of  ele 
mentary  books,  he  rose  steadily  from  the  ranks  through  the  several  grada 
tions  of  the  regiment,  and  —  fully  qualified  for  it  by  his  self-acquired 
knowledge,  his  clear  perception,  sound  judgment,  well-governed  temper  and 
thorough  self-reliance  —  died  as  he  deserved  to  die,  in  command  of  a  division. 
Patient,  diligent,  indefatigable  in  the  work  of  mastering  the  details  and 
technicalities  of  the  profession  in  the  humbler  duties  of  his  military  life, 
he  was  no  less  patient,  no  less  diligent  and  indefatigable,  in  the  discharge 
of  those  administrative  duties  which  devolved  upon  him  in  the  higher  posi 
tion  to  which  he  subsequently  rose. 

Calm  as  he  was  firm,  gentle  as  he  was  resolute,  courteous  as  he  was 
stern,  kiud  as  he  was  dignified,  just  as  he  was  severe,  they  were  richly 
blended  and  wonderfully  balanced  in  his  character  as  a  military  chief,  most, 
if  not  all,  of  those  qualities  which  are  popularly  held  to  be  inconsistent 
and  conflicting,  but  without  the  possession  of  which,  in  equal  proportions 
and  nice  adjustment,  no  military  officer  can  claim  perfection. 

Conscientious  as  he  was  brave,  he  acquitted  himself  of  his  obligations 
to  his  subordinates  as  well  as  to  his  superiors,  with  an  alacrity  and  pre 
cision  which  proved  his  heart  in  his  task,  however  arduous  and  repugnant 
it  might  be.  Ever  anxious  that  whatever  should  be  done  should  be  promptly 


356  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

and  thoroughly  done,  he  seldom  gave  an  order  of  any  consequence  that  he 
himself  did  not  see  to  its  execution,  and  in  the  same  way,  in  the  best 
spirit,  whenever  any  enterprise  of  the  least  importance  had  to  be  under 
taken,  however  small  the  lorce  it  might  require,  he  was  sure  to  be  at  its 
head,  determined  never  to  leave  any  business  to  others  in  which  he  could 
take  a  hand  himself.  (Applause). 

Calm  as  he  was  firm,  seldom  did  any  untoward  circumstance  destroy 
the  evenness  of  his  demeanor,  his  placidity  of  feature,  the  measured  utter 
ance  of  his  words;  and  these  words  even  in  moments  of  general  excite 
ment  and  alarm  were,  on  all  occasions,  the  true  interpreters  of  his  disci 
plined  mind  and  temperament,  so  clear,  so  definite,  so  emphatically  to  the 
point  did  they  impress  themselves,  presenting  a  frozen  contrast  almost  to 
the  impulsiveness  with  which  the  Irish  soldiers  are  known  to  fight,  and 
seeming  to  catch  none  of  the  enthusiasm  which  in  the  battle-field  inflames 
the  coldest,  and  under  the  influence  of  which  an  army  in  the  face  of  death, 
deals  their  blows  as  though  the  ancient  gods  inspired  them.  But  for  this 
Tery  reason  he  was  all  the  more  reliable  and  valuable  as  an  officer,  and 
better  fitted  for  a  command  demanding  a  great  amount  of  mental  and  physical 
activity.  To  this  very  calmness  which  was  so  strikingly  characteristic  of 
him,  to  this  imperturbable  steadiness  under  fire,  to'  this  invincible  self-control 
which  gave  the  mastery  to  his  transparent  brain,  may  justly  be  ascribed 
the  fact,  that,  overwhelmed  as  his  regiment  was,  on  the  21st  of  July,  1861, 
at  the  battle  of  Manassas,  by  the  hidden  batteries  of  the  enemy,  the  69th 
withdrew  in  good  order,  fearlessly  and  deliberately.  (Great  applause). 

Gentle  as  he  was  resolute,  seldom  did  an  angry  word,  much  less  a  pro 
fane  word,  escape  him  in  his  social  intercourse  with  his  command,  even 
when  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  reprove  and  reprimand.  Far  more  dis 
posed  to  utter  the  word  of  friendly  encouragement,  and  extend  the  helping 
hand  —  no  admonition,  no  reproof,  no  censure  fell  from  him  that  was  not 
painfully  forced ;  and  never  was  a  punishment  awarded  by  him  that  he  was 
not  rigorously  compelled  to  inflict.  Disinterested,  straightforward,  just, 
and  fearless  in  all  he  did,  the  very  parties  that  incurred  his  severity  the 
most,  and  wrere  most  impressively  taught  by  him  the  lesson  that  the  hap 
piness  and  fortune  of  a  soldier  depend  upon  his  subordination,  were  the  first 
to  acknowledge  the  goodness  of  his  heart,  his  impartiality,  the  necessity  of 
his  being  strict.  Kind  as  he  was  dignified,  whilst  he  never  forgot  what  was 
due  to  his  rank  or  permitted  any  of  those  familiarities  to  be  'taken,  which 
amongst  social  equals  are  allowed,  —  but  which  the  etiquette  of  military  life 
cannot  tolerate,  but  which  would  vulgarize  and  demoralize  the  service,  — 


MEAGHEE   ON  COECOEAN.  357 

the  humblest  private  was  free  to  come  at  any  hour  to  Michael  Corcoran 
had  he  a  grievance  which  only  he  could  redress,  or  some  private  sorrow 
which  could  only  be  relieved  by  the  Colonel  or  the  General.  (Cheers). 

As  I  heard  Father  Paul  Gillen,  the  devout  and  devoted  Chaplain  of  the 
Irish  Legion,  say,  as  the  prayers  for  the  dead  had  been  recited  over  the 
remains  of  my  brave  and  noble  friend,  from  the  smallest  drummer-boy  to 
the  officer  next  in  rank  to  himself,  every  one  had  access  to  Michael  Corcoran 
for  advice,  for  comfort,  for  assistance;  and  never  did  any  of  his  command 
leave  him  after  telling  him  of  his  grief  or  difficulty,  that  the  poor  fellow, 
unburdened  and  elated,  i>id  not  feel  that  in  Michael  Corcoran  he  had  a 
trusty  leader,  a  just  magistrate,  a  generous  friend.  (Cheers). 

How  he  was  esteemed,  loved  and  idolized  by  his  officers  and  men ;  how 
his  death  came  upon  them  in  their  camps ;  how  consternation  and  desola 
tion  took  possession  of  them  all,  as  though  each  one  had  lost  the  dearest 
trtasure  of  his  life,  you,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  should  have  witnessed  the 
scene,  as  I  did,  at  his  quarters,  the  evening  after  he  was  borne  home  to 
his  death-bed. 

There,  in  that  very  room  which  I  had  occupied  for  several  days  as  his 
guest,  and  which,  rendering  his  hospitality  with  all  the  thonghtfulness  and 
warm-heartedness  of  a  true-born  Irish  gentleman,  he  never  failed  to  visit 
the  last  thing  on  retiring  for  the  night,  and  the  first  thing  in  the  morning, 
to  see  that  I  wanted  nothing,  and  was  as  happy  as  he  could  make  me ; 
there,  in  that  very  room,  he  lay  cold  and  white  in  death,  with  the  hands 
which  were  once  so  warm  in  their  grasp,  and  so  lavish  in  their  gifts  crossed 
upon  his  breast,  with  a  crucifix  surrounded  by  lights  standing  at  his  head, 
and  the  good,  dear  pld  priest,  who  loved  him  only  as  a  father  can  love  a 
son,  kneeling,  praying,  and  weeping  at  the  feet  of  the  dead  soldier.  From 
the  window  in  the  corridor  outside  the  room,  the  lifeless  camps  glistened 
in  the  cold  air,  no  one  now  stirring  in  them  but  the  solemn  sentinels  on 
their  posts.  Beyond  the  camps,  the  dark  pine  woods  of  Virginia  stretched 
for  miles,  covering  the  country  with  a  vast,  deep,  black  forest.  Beyond 
that  again  arose  the  mountains  that  overlooked  Manassas,  and  were  all  in 
flame  with  the  glow  of  the  setting  sun. 

One  by  one,  as  the  sun  went  down,  and  the  last  rays,  reflected  from 
those  mountains  that  had  been  the  witness  of  his  first  trial  under  fire,  fell 
upon  that  pale  and  tranquil  face,  the  soldiers  ot  the  Irish  Legion  moved 
in  mournful  procession  around  the  death-bed,  at.d,  as  they  took  their  last 
look  at  him,  I  saw  many  a  big  heart  heave  and  swell  until  tears  gushed 
from  many  an  eye  and  ran  down  the  rough  cheek  of  the  roughest  veteran. 


368  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGIIER. 

Five  days  after  the  vault  of  Calvary  Cemetery  closed  upon  him,  as  the  men 
he  once  commanded  as  a  Captain,  fired  the  farewell  volleys.  Never  did  the 
tomb  close  upon  a  more  loyal  citizen,  never  upon  a  braver  soldier,  never 
upon  a  truer  Irishman.  (Applause). 

As  a  citizen  and  soldier  I  have  spoken  of  him,  as  an  Irishman  it  remains 
for  me  to  say  a  few  words. 

Men  of  brilliant  talents,  men  whose  sympathies  and  brains  find  vent  in 
poetry,  in  rhetoric,  may  have  acquired  a  wider  renown,  a  more  glowing 
fame,  but  none  even  of  the  illustrious  few  that  dared  the  most,  suffered 
the  most,  achieved  the  most  for  the  sake  of  Ireland,  none  weie  truer  to 
the  land  of  his  birth,  none  loved  her  more  sincerely,  or  had  a  more  ear 
nest  desire  to  serve  her,  or  did  more  to  train  and  fit  himself  to  take 
an  eminent  part  in  the  achievement  of  her  independence.  (Applause).  In 
deed,  the  absence  of  showy  and  attractive  talents,  renders  his  patriotism  all 
the  more  unquestionable. 

Patriotism  is  a  grand  theme  for  poetry,  supplies  the  orator  and  the 
painter  with  many  a  subject  for  the  display  of  their  genius  or  their  art, 
supplies  the  neediest  politician  with  illimitable  capital  and  introduction  to 
the  best  society  at  Washington  or  Albany.  But  for  him  who  is  neither  a 
poet  nor  an  orator,  nor  an  artist  nor  a  politician,  neither  vanity  nor  ambi 
tion,  nor  pride  of  intellect  can  animate  him.  The  patriotism  of  such  a  man 
is  patriotism  of  a  simple  and  noble  nature;  and  you  can  no  more  question 
it  than  you  can  question  the  light  of  the  sun,  or  the  flowering  of  the  for 
est,  or  the  depth  of  the  sea,  or  the  grandeur  of  the  mountains.  (Cheers.) 

I  said,  a  moment  ago,  that  Michael  Corcoran  had  no  ambition.  I  was 
wrong ;  he  had  ambition  —  the  ambition  to  be  recognized  as  the  native  of  a 
free,  instead  of  an  enslaved,  an  honored  instead  of  an  abject  race.  (Cheers). 

Well  did  he  know,  and  keenly  did  he  feel,  that  the  humble  fortune 
and  degraded  condition,  of  the  land  that  gave  birth  more  or  less  affect  the 
fortunes,  the  condition,  the  character  of  all  those,  who,  true  to  her  name, 
memories,  faith  and  destiny,  boast  of  their  origin;  well  did  he  know  and 
keenly  did  he  feel  that,  in  the  celebrity  and  greatness  of  a  nation  the 
humblest  that  claims  it  for  the  nation  of  his  nativity  inevitably  participates, 
and  in  proportion  as  it  is  elevated  or  degraded  do  its  representatives  abroad, 
whether  they  be  laborers  or  merchants,  conspicuous  or  obscure,  find  consid 
eration  or  indifference.  For  his  part,  he  was  sensible  of  the  humiliation  and 
disabilities  which  an  enslaved  and  impoverished  country  entails  upon  its 
people  wherever  they  may  scatter  themselves,  or  however  friendly  may  be 
the  climes  in  which  they  stay  their  footsteps. 


ME  A  GHEE    ON  CORCORAN.  359 

Thus,  with  him,  did  the  glorious  project  of  having  Irelanu  re-established, 
as  a  nation,  with  a  fleet  and  army,  a  magistracy,  a  senate  of  her  own  —  re 
established  iu  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  a  nation,  the  equal  of  the 
haughtiest,  the  oldest,  the  most  powerful,  with  liberty  and  happiness,  and 
the  busiest  life  at  home,  with  credit,  respectability,  and  a  just  measure  of 
national  authority  abroad;  thus,  with  him,  did  this  project  become  the  ulti 
mate  aim  of  his  military  life;  and  this  it  was  which  gave  so  much  earnestness 
and  solidity  to  his  character.  (Great  applause). 

Hence  it  was  that,  convinced  that  they  were  upon  the  true  road,  he- 
joined  the  Fenian  Brotherhood,  under  the  auspices  of  which,  these  commem 
orative  words  of  their  gallant  Brother  are  this  night  spoken,  and,  finding  in 
that  Brotherhood  men  of  his  own  high  aim,  did  he  remain  faithful  and 
serviceable  to  the  last.  (Cheers).  How  dear  this  organization  was  to  him,  and 
how  sensitively  he  threw  himself  between  it  and  whatever  might  impair  its 
efficiency  this  letter  to  the  Head  Centre  of  the  Brotherhood,  Colonel  John 
O'Mahony,  abundantly  testifies:  — 

"National    Cadets'   Headquarters,  "» 

69th    Eegimeut,   X.   Y.   S.   M.,  > 
x  "Arlington   Heights,    May   29,    1861. 

"  My  dear  O'Mahony.  —  I  need  not  assure  you  I  was  sincerely  glad  to 
hear  of  your  return,  and  truly  gratified  to  hear  from  you.  I  deferred 
replying  to  you,  with  the  hope  of  being  able  to  do  so  more  fully  than 
even  now,  I  find  the  severe  press  of  duties  will  enable  me  to  do.  I  can 
reconcile  myself,  however,  to  any  drawback  in  this  respect,  being  satisfied 
that  you  will  understand  the  cause  of  it,  and  make  the  friendliest  allow 
ance  for  all  shortcomings. 

uAs  to  your  joining  us,  as  you  propose,  that  I  must  tell  you  frankly, 
I  cannot  listen  to  you  for  a  moment.  Irrespective  of  any  other  considera 
tion,  our  Irish  cause  and  organization  in  America  would  grievously,  if  not 
fatally,  suffer  by  the  withdrawal  of  your  immediate  services  and  supervision. 
It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  you  should  remain  at  your  »wn  prescribed 
post  — all  the  more  necessary  that  others  are  compelled  to  be  away  for  a 
time.  That  our  organization  will  derive  considerable  impetus  ar.d  strength 
from  the  military  enthusiasm  prevailing  here  at  present  amongst  our  race, 
and  may,  indeed,  have  favorable  opportunities  opened  out  to  it  by  the 
events  that  are  transpiring.  I  am  strongly  impressed,  if  not  positively  con 
vinced.  It  is,  therefore,  most  essential  that  a  aiau  like  you  should  remain 
to  enlarge  and  perfect  it. 


360  MEMOIRS    OF  GEX.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGI1ER. 

"  All  this,  however,  does  riot  in  the  least  dissuade  you  from  coming 
here  on  a  visit  to  the  camp  —  on  the  contrary,  I  myself,  am  most  anrious 
you  should  come,  and  come  as  soon  as  possible,  so  that  we  may  have  a 
thorough  consideration  of  matters  interesting  aud  endeared,  and  sacred  to 
us  both.  The  officers  and  men,  too,  of  the  GOth,  will  be  delighted  to  see 
you  —  every  one  of  them;  and  whilst  your  presence,  for  a  few  days  here, 
will  cheer  and  stimulate  them — recalling,  as  it  will  do,  many  of  their  most 
cherished  memories  and  hopes  —  you,  yourself,  I  am  confident,  will  derive 
increased  confidence  in  the  availability  of  our  race  for  high  military  achieve 
ments  on  their  own  soil  from  the  appearance  which  the  GOth  presents. 

"On  the  receipt  of  this  letter  I  trust  you  will  find  it  convenient  to 
come  off  to  us  at  once,  and  I  beg  you  to  believe  me, 

"  Faithfully   your  friend, 

"MICHAEL  CORCORAN. 
"To  JOHN  O'MAIIONY,  Esq.,  Xew  York.'" 

But  the  faithful  soldier,  the  faithful  friend,  the  faithful  Irishman  sleeps 
to-nignt,  not  where  he  often  wished,  and  praytd,  and  hoped  he  might  be 
laid  to  rest  —  deep  in  the  green  sod,  in  the  shadow  of  the  pillar  towers, 
with  the  great  sea  foaming  as  he  was  borne  to  his  grave,  with  the  ivied 
oak  above  his  head,  and  with  all  the  beautiful  or  heroic  of  the  past  speak 
ing  to  those  who  came  to  bury  him  —  speaking  to  them  Irom  the  rath,  the 
cairn,  the  cloister,  the  holy  well,  in  the  cadence  of  the  stream,  in  the 
legend,  in  the  lyric,  in  the  voices  of  the  mountains :  in  the  same  rain,  in 
the  same  sunshine,  in  the  same  wind,  underneath  the  same  sky  and  sham 
rock  he  knew  and  loved  and  sported  with  in  his  childhood  —  deep  in  the 


*  John  O'Mahony,  wishing  to  "train  his  soul  to  lead  a  line,"  and  also  to  set  an 
examp.e  which  it  behooved  all  Jrishjnen  who  aspired  to  strike  a  blow  for  their  country's 
freedom,  to  lollow,  had  joined  the  C9th  as  a  private.  The  exigencies  of  the  organization 
In  Ireland  required  his  presence  there  in  the  winter  of  I860,  and  notwithstanding  that  he 
left  that  land  a  proscribed  outlaw  In  1S4S,  and  as  such  was  liable  to  arrest  on  landing, 
he  risked  life  and  liberty  at  the  call  of  duty.  When  he  heard  that  war  had  commenced 
In  America,  and  that  the  GOth  had  gone  to  the  front,  he  hastened  back  to  New  York, 
and  from  thence  wrote  to  C«louel  Corcoran  anLOunclng  his  intention  of  reporting  for 
duty  with  his  regiment  It  was  in  reply  to  that  announcement  that  the  Colonel  sent  him 
the  foregoing  letter.  O'Mahony  immediately  paid  a  visit  to  the  camp,  and  by  his  report 
of  the  state  of  affairs  in  Ireland  at  the  date  of  his  departure,  infused  fresh  courage  Into 
the  hearts  of  his  gallant  comrades,  who  hoped  to  turn  their  experience  as  soldiers  of  the 
Union  to  the  benefit  of  their  native  land. 


HEAGHER    ON  COECOEAN.  361 

green  sod,  in  the  midst  of  those  shadows,  with  all  these  familiar  voices, 
with  all  these  wild,  tender,  and  glorious  sights  and  influences  about  him  — 
did  he  wish  and  pray  and  hope  to  be  laid  asleep.  Brothers,  see  to  it  that 
his  wish,  his  prayer,  his  hope  shall  be  fulfilled.  (Cries  of  "Aye,  aye!" 
and  cheers).  In  the  meantime  let  him  rest  in  the  soil  that  is  sacred  to 
liberty,  under  the  starry  arch  of  the  Republic  he  so  nobly  served,  atul 
within  sight  of  the  city  which  honored  him  when  dead  as  she  honored  him 
when  living,  and  where  his  name  will  never  souud  strange  to  those  by 
whom  the  ashes  of  Montgomery  and  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  are  gratefully 
and  fondly  treasured. 

General  Meagher  concluded    amidst    loud  applause. 

MEAGIIER  A  FENIAN. 

Though  Mr.  Meagher  was  himself  an  enrolled  member  of  the  Foniati 
Brotherhood,  when,  under  the  auspices  of  that  organization,  he  delivered 
the  "Funeral  Oration"  on  General  Corcoran,  yet  the  society  had  been  in 
existence  for  years  before  he  sought  admission  into  its  ranks. 

When,  on  the  invitation  of  John  O'Mahony,  Michael  Doheny,  Michael 
Corcoran,  and  their  associates  of  the  "Emmet  Monument  Association  Com 
mittee,"  James  Stephens  came  to  New  York  to  arrange  with  them  for  the 
formation  of  co-operative  revolutionary  organizations  in  Ireland  and  America, 
he  sought  to  enlist  Thomas  Francis  Meagher  in  the  project;  but  Meagher 
declined  his  overtures  —  on  what  grounds  I  cannot,  positively,  say.  But 
that  his  refusal  was  not  due  to  any  change  of  principles  or  personal  dis 
like  to  participating  in  a  renewed  battle  for  Irish  freedom  on  Irish  soil, 
the  following  extract  from  a  speech  delivered  by  him  about  that  time  before 
the  T.  F.  Meagher  Club,  conclusively  shows :  — 

"  It  may  be,  that  the  members  of  the  T.  F.  Meagher  Club,  of  the  city 
of  New  York,  recognize  in  the  T.  F.  Meagher  of  1858  the  T.  F.  M^agher 
of  1848.  If  so,  the  members  of  the  T.  F.  Meagher  Club  are  not  mistaken. 
Ireland  may  have  changed,  sir,  but  this  heart  has  not  —  and  never  shall. 
The  field  of  my  duties  and  pursuits  —  of  my  social  and  political  obligations 
—  this  fiold  is  no  longer  watered  by  the  Suir,  and  the  iron  sceptre  of  the 
successor  of  Elizabeth,  thrust  across  the  gate,  shuts  out  Irom  his  ancient 
home  the  Celt  who,  for  crimes  against  a  foreign  magistracy,  cannot  find  io 
in  his  heart  to  repent,  and  as  a  Republican  citizen  never  shall  apo-tati/.e. 

"But    for    all    that  —  for  all   the  changes   that   have   occurred  —  think  uuC 


362  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

that  I  shall  stand  with  folded  arms  upon  this  new  field,  with  an  ignoble 
prudence  and  impunity  awaiting  the  issue  of  the  contest,  if  one  of  these 
days  through  the  ocean  there  should  flash  from  Valencia  Bay  the  signal  of 
a  revolt  in  Ireland.  Trampling  upon  the  fragments  of  that  sceptre  —  that 
iron  sceptre  sheathed  in  ivory  and  tipped  with  gold  —  as  the  rightful  heir 
reinstated  by  his  own  right  arm  —  it  is  thus  alone  that  I  desire  to  cross 
the  threshold  of  my  father's  house." 

I  believe  that  Meagher's  determination  to  join  the  Fenian  Brotherhood 
as  a  bona  fide  working  member,  was  come  to  on  Patrick's  Day,  1861,  after 
he  had  witnessed  the  First  Regiment  of  the  Phoenix  Brigade  march  under 
the  "  Green  Flag,"  which  had,  on  that  morning,  been  presented  to  them 
by  the  patriotic  Irish  ladies  of  Xew  York.  His  natural  soldier  instincts 
were  aroused  as  they  had  never  been  previously  —  and  with  good  cause,  for 
never  were  Irishmen  more  devoted  to  the  cause  which  that  flag  symbolized 
than  those  over  whom  it  waved  on  that  day;  physically,  morally  and  intel 
lectually,  they  were  true  representatives  of  the  flower  of  their  race.  This 
fact  was  tacitly  admitted  by  their  fellow-citizens  at  large,  even  those  who 
did  not  understand  the  actuating  motives  of  the  Fenian  Brotherhood,  and 
had  no  sympathy  with  their  aspirations,  respected  them  for  their  disinter 
ested  earnestness,  and  evident  determination  of  purpose  —  as  evinced  by  the 
self-disciplined  men,  who  were  so  enthusiastically  applauded  throughout  their 
whole  line  of  march  on  that  occasion.  Thenceforth,  professional  politicians, 
—  who  had  heretofore  attempted  to  sneer  at  them  —  learned  to  fear  the 
men  they  could  not  cajole  —  for  the  healthy,  self-respecting  influence  which 
they  were  perceptibly  exercising  on  the  masses  of  their  fellow-countrymen. 

It  was  only  a  short  time  previously  that  Meagher  had  returned  to  New 
York  from  his  latest  Central  American  tour,  and  this  exhibition  of  the  Fenian 
Brotherhood's  disciplined  strength  was  a  new  revelation  to  him.  In  it  he 
perceived  the  visible  result  of  the  years  of  unremitting,  self-sacrificing  labor, 
heroically  undertaken  by  the  founders  of  the  organization,  and  especially  by 
O'Alahony  and  Doheuy  —  the  only  two  of  his  '48  compatriots  who.  in  their 
exile  practically  adhered  to  the  principles  lor  which  they  and  he  had  become 
armed  rebels  on  their  native  hills.  He  resolved  that,  once  again,  his  place 
should  be  by  his  old  comrades'  side.  He  would  abandon  the  rostrum  for 
the  drill-room. 

To  one  of  his  impulsive  temperament  —  to  form  a  resolution  was  to  act 
upon  it  promptly,  ana  that  evening  he  took  the  rirst  step  on  the  new  road 
he  had  chosen  for  his  future  course. 


MEAGHER  A   FENIAN.  363 


Since  his  arrival  in  America,  he  had  habitually  participated  in  the  Pat- 
rick's-night  festivities  of  the  "  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick.'' 

This   society  was  originally   composed   of  wealthy  residents  of  New  York 

—  the    majority   of    them    Irish  — in    name  — not  in   heart  — who,    at  their  post 
prandial    annual    re-unions,    were    in    the    habit   of    toasting   the   health  of   the 
British   Queen !  —  their    slavish    excuse    for   this  exhibition   of  gratuitous  flun- 
keyism  being,  that,  "the  omission  of  the  toast  might  offend  the  invited  guests 
from   their  sister  societies  of  St.   George  and  St.   Andrew." 

The  officers  of  the  9th  (Irish)  Regiment  determined  to  put  an  end,  for 
ever,  to  this  slavish  custom,  and,  at  the  suggestion  of  Captain  Michael 
Phelan,  on  St.  Patrick's  night,  1852,  about  a  dozen  of  them  attended  the 
dinner  with  that  object,  and  when,  in  due  course,  the  obnoxious  toast  was 
proposed,  they  simultaneously  reversed  their  glasses,  while  their  selected 
spokesman,  Captain  John  Brougham,  gave  expression  to  the  universal  indig- 
naJou  of  his  outraged  countrymen  in  language  so  scathing  that  the  flunkies 
were  abashed,  and  thenceforth  the  offence  was  never  repeated.  Subsequently 
the  most  demonstrative  of  the  pro-British  members  withdrew  from  the  soci 
ety,  and,  as  this  circumstance  induced  many  genuine  Irish  gentlemen  to  join 
it,  the  associaiion,  in  consequence,  became  respectable,  though  not  as  national 
as  it  might  have  been  —  for  it  still  numbered  a  considerable  percentage  of 
"  Once-a-year  Irishmen ! "  on  its  list  of  members. 

Now,  it  so  happened,  that  one  of  these  latter  gentry—  a  purse-proud, 
self-conceited  individual,  accosted  Meagher  while  on  his  way  from  witness 
ing  the  parade  of  the  Fenian  soldiers,  and,  in  an  offensively  familiar  tone, 
enquired :  — 

"  Are  we  going  to  have  the  pleasure  of  your  company  at  the  dinner 
to-night,  Mr.  Meagher?'' 

Meagher,  —  who   entertained   a   special   antipathy  to   creatures  of  this  class, 

—  replied,   coldly,   that  he   "•didn't  know!" 

"What?"  retorted  his  provoking  interlocutor,  ''sure  you're  not  going  to 
desert  us  ? " 

Scorning  a  reply,  Meagher  walked  indignantly  away,  but  the  idea  of 
being  charged  with  deserting  such  fellows  as  that,  so  irritated  him,  that 
he  proceeded  to  the  Fenian  Brotherhood  office  to  relieve  his  mind  by  a 
recital  of  the  incident  to  sympathizing  friends,  and  (.specially  to  Doheiiy — 
whom  he  expected  to  meet  there — (as  his  office  was  in  the  same  building). 
There  was  no  one  in  at  the  time  but  Mr.  James  Roche  and  myself,  and 
to  us  he  related  his  story,  and,  at  the  same  time  expressed  the  determina 
tion  of  keeping  clear  of  all  convivial  celebrations  for  that  night. 


364  MEM01ES  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEK. 

He  then  turned  to  the  subject  of  that  day's  parade,  and  expressed  his 
particular  admiration  of  the  "  Pnoeuix  Zouaves"  —  a  company  which  had  the 
special  advantage  of  being  drilled  by  Sergeant  Thomas  Kiely  of  the  United 
States  Army  —  one  of  the  "permanent  party"  on  Governor's  Island  —  and 
accounted  by  his  fellow-vete'raus  to  be  the  best  instructor  in  the  "  Bayonet 
Exercise  "  among  the  non-commissioned  officers  in  the  service.  The  uniforr* 
of  this  company  was  modified  from  that  worn  by  the  French  "Zouaves  o< 
Inkermau,"  who  a  short  time  previously  had  visited  the  United  States  —  its 
novel  appearance,  at  the  head  of  the  Fenian  column,  was  hailed  with 
enthusiastic  cheers  all  along  the  line  of  march.  Nor  were  its  admirers  con 
fined  to  the  Irish  element.  I  remarked  a  middle-aged  Frenchman  on  Chat 
ham  street,  excitedly  giving  vent  to  his  ecstatic  feelings  by  swinging  hi? 
hat  over  his  head  —  as  he  shouted  at  the  top  of  his  voice:  — 
'••Viva  la  Zouaves  I'  'Irlandais  !  '" 

Meagher   was  highly   amused   when  1  told   the  incident. 

MEAGHER  ON 


On  the  15th  of  January,  18G1,  JMeagher's  beloved  friend  and  fellow-exile 
—  Terence  Bellew  McManus,  died  in  San  Francisco.  He  was  interred  with 
the  honors  befitting  a  patriot  and  a  Christian  on  the  far-off  slope  of  the 
Pacific.  But  he  left  behind  him  many  another  Irish  exile,  who  honored 
him  in  life  for  his  devotion  to  the  laud  they  loved  as  truly  as  he  did,  anr1 
who  sympathized  with  him  for  the  sacrifices  he  had  made,  and  the  suffer 
ings  he  had  endured  for  her  sake.  Those  great-hearted  Irishmen  perceived 
that  the  dead  patriot  could  be  made  to  exercise  a  greater  influence  on  the 
destinies  of  his  native  laud  than  ever  he  had  been  able  to  do  in  life,  and 
with  this  impelling  motive  the  members  of  the  Fenian  Brotherhood  of  San 
Francisco  determined  that  the  remains  of  the  gallant  outlaw  should  have  a 
grave  in  the  soil  which  he  fought  to  free  ;  that,  enveloped  in  the  folds  of 
the  "  Starry  Flag,"  from  under  which  he  had  ere-while  been  torn,  the  dead 
rebel  should  be  carried  defiantly  over  the  spot  .where  the  outrage  had  been 
perpetrated,  and  thus  be  made  the  medium  of  achieving  a  two-fold  triumph 
over  the  common  enemy  of  his  native  and  adopted  country, 

Their  plan  being  matured,  the  Brotherhood  in  California  communicated 
their  design  to  Colonel  Doiieny  —  whom  (in  Mr.  O'Mahony's  absence  in  Ire 
land,)  they  recognized  as  the  next  of  McManus's  old  comrades  —  connected 
with  the  organization  —  to  take  charge  of  the  project  in  New  York. 

Doheny    entered    most    enthusiastically    into    the    undertaking  :    he    called 


HEAGHEB   ON  McMANUS  365 

meetings  of  the  leading  Irish  of  New  York,  and  permanent  committees  were 
formed  in  that  and  the  other  chief  cities  of  the  Union,  in  furtherance  of  the 
grand  design. 

Meagher  was  one  of  the  first  and  most  enthusiastic  to  lend  his  active 
aid  towards  carrying  out  the  programme  indicated. 

As  it 'was  not  intended  to  disinter  the  remains  of  the  exiled  patriot 
until  the  ensuing  September,  the  intermediate  time  was  intended  to  be 
devoted  to  making  the  necesssary  preparations  for  their  reception  in  New 
Ycrk,  and  their  transmission  from  thence  to  Ire'aud. 

As  a  portion  of  Meagher's  share  in  the  good  work,  he  delivered  a  lecture 
in  Irving  Hall,  on  April  3d,  on  the  "  Life  and  Character  of  Terence  Bellew 
McManus."  It  was  one  of  his  grandest  orations,  and  comprised  the  fullest, 
truest,  and  most  loveable  account  of  his  gallant  brother's  career.  It  is  too 
long  to  publish  here,  but  if  space  permits,  it  may  find  a  place  in  the 
appendix. 

A  few  days  after  the  lecture  Mr.  Eoche  informed  me  that  Meagher 
purposed  organizing  a  second  regiment  of  the  Phoenix  Brigade,  and  wished 
that  I  should  see  him  on  the  subject.  This  I  did.  and.  on  behalf  of  my 
comrades  of  the  "Phoenix  Zouaves,"  proffered  the  company  to  him  as  the  first 
of  his  proposed  regiment.  He  said  that  it  would  be  a  pity  to  detach  that  fine 
company  from  the  "First  Kegiment  of  the  Phoenix  Brigade,''  but,  on  my 
assuring  him  that,  by  special  permission  of  General  Corcoran,  Commander 
of  the  Military  portion  of  the  Fenian  Brotherhood,  the  "Zouaves"  —  who 
were  uniformed  as  such  by  his  suggestion  —  were  unattached  to  any  other 
command  —  he  gladly  consented  to  constitute  them  the  First  Company  of 
the  new  regiment  —  which  should  adopt  their  uniform.  He,  however,  sug 
gested  that,  as  it  may  seem  presumptious  on  his  part  to  undertake  the 
raising  of  a  Fenian  Kegiment  on  his  own  responsibility  —  it  would  be  well 
if  he  received  a  formal  invitation  to  that  effect  from  some  existing  organ 
ization  of  the  Brotherhood.  This  1  promised  he  should  get  after  our  next 
company  meeting. 

[NOTE.  —  The  following  extracts  from  the  "Minute  Book"  of  the  "Phoe 
nix  Zouaves,"  show  the  action  of  the  company  on  the  subject: 

"April   18th,   1SG1. 

"  It  was  moved  and  seconded  that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  draft  a 
resolution  expressive  of  the  company's  sentiments  in  tendering  their  services 
for  the  purpose  of  forming  the  First  Company  of  the  Second  Regiment 


36U  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGIIER. 

•  Phoenix  Brigade,'   to    be    organized   and   commanded   by   our  gallant  country 
man,  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGIIER.  —  Carried." 

April  21st,   1861, 
'•  A    special    meeting    was    convened  for  this  evening,   for  the  purpose  of 

taking  action  upon  the  resolution  which  was  to  be  presented  to  Mr.  Meagher." 
•  The    following    preamble    and    resolution    were    read    and    unanimously 

adopted :  — 

"  Whereas,  we  have  learned  with  delight  that  our  esteemed  countryman, 
THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER,  (having  returned  to  New  York,)  has  deter 
mined  to  do  his  part  in  the  renewed  struggle  for  "the  good  old  cause  of 
the  poor  old  country ; "  and  it  being  our  opinion  that  his  proper  place  in 
that  struggle  would  be  at  the  head  of  an  armed  and  disciplined  body  of 
his  fellow-exiles,  pledged  to  that  cause,  — 

"  Therefore,  be  it  Resolved,  That  Mr.  Meagher  be  respectfully  requested 
to  organize  and  command  a  second  Regiment  of  the  Phoenix  Brigade  in  this 
city,  and  that  we  —  the  "Phoenix  Zouaves" — solicit  the  privilege  of  consti 
tuting  its  first  company  —  pledging  ourselves  that  where  his  sword  leads 
our  bayonets  will  follow  —  to 

'  STRIKE  FOR  OUR  OWN  AGAIN  ! ' 
"Signed  on  behalf  of  the  Company, 

"  THOMAS  KIELY,    Captain."1"] 

He  then  told  me  that  he  was  going  to  Connecticut  that  evening,  on  a 
lecturing  engagement;  that,  on  his  return  —  in  the  beginning  of  the  next 
week,  he  would  call  on  me  for  the  document,  and  commence  the  organiza 
tion  of  the  regiment  without  further  delay. 

But  in  the  interval  of  Mr.  Meagher's  absence  from  New  York,  events 
transpired  which  upset  our  calculations,  —  changed  and  enlarged  his  sphere 
of  action  as  a  soldier  of  Liberty,  —  and  exercised  a  permanent  influence  on 
his  luture  destiny. 

For  the  clouds  which  had  long  been  ominously  gathering  on  the  polit 
ical  horizon,  had,  in  those  few  days  culminated  in  the  zenith,  and  suddenly 
sent  forth  a  thunderbolt  which  set  the  nation  on  fire :  — 

IIIE  FLAG  OF  THE  UNION  HAL>  BEEN  FIRED  UPON! 


THE  WAE   FOR    THE  UNION.  367 


CHAPTER  LVIII. 


OPENING  OF  THE  WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 
THE  BANNER. 

Little   I  know  what  hero  hand 

First  flung  a  "Banner"  on  the  air, 
And  gave  to  every  eye  that  scanned, 

The  legend  of  its  purpose  there :  — 
But  welf  I  know  it  was  a  deed 

Of  right  heroic,  pious  strain,— 
To  lift  the  spell-worn  of  its  creed 

Above  the  slayers  and  the  slain  — 

Above  the  purple  battle-rain  — 
Above  the  tumult-trampled  sod  — 
And  fly  it,  silent  in  the  face  of  GOD! 

MARTIN  MACDERMOTT. 

THOUGH,  from  the  day  on  which  Thomas  Francis  Meagher  obtained  his 
"  certificate  of  citizenship,"  he  professed  the  political  priuciples  of  the  Dem 
ocratic  party,  and,  occasionally  spoke  at  its  meetings,  yet  he  never  felt 
hampered  by  the  trammels  of  partizanship.  The  spoils  of  office  had  no 
attraction  for  him.  His  convictions  were  based  upon  constitutional  princi 
ples  and  not  upon  personal  interests,  or  the  exigencies  of  party.  In  the 
controversy  between  the  North  and  the  South  his  sympathies  were  entirely 
with  the  latter  —  up  to  the  moment  when,  by  an  overt  act  of  treason,  the 
integrity  of  the  Union  was  menaced  and  the  mask  of  constitutionality  cast 
aside. 

"  On  the  day  on  which  we  held  the  afore-mentioned  interview  I  heard 
him  relate  the  substance  of  an  argument  he  had  with  his  father-in-law 
before  leaving  the  house  that  morning — which  will  show  the  warmth  of  his 
feelings  towards  the  South.  Mr.  Townsend  was  an  ardent  Republican,  and 
in  the  friendly  controversy  he  doesn't  seem  to  have  been  choice  in  his 
epithets,  for  he  characterized  the  Southerners  as  a  "  set  of  rebels.''  Meagher, 
objecting  to  the  disparaging  phrase,  retorted:  — 


368  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FEANCIS  31EAGHEE. 

"You  cannot  call  eight  millions  of  white  freemen  'rebels,'  sir;  —  you 
may  call  them  '  revolutionists '  if  you  will." 

Continuing    his    narrative    of    that    morning's    experiences  —  he    told    that^ 
while  on  his   way  down  town,  he  went  with  a  friend  into  "  Delmonico's,"  and' 
there  found  a  party  discussing   the   all-engrossing  topic   of  the   time.     One  of 
the    disputants,  —  who    had    been    vehemently    denouncing    the    Southerners  — 
turned,    smilingly,    towards   Meagher,   and  remarked :  — 

"  But  perhaps  I  am  going  rather  too  far  in  present  company." 

To  this  Meagher  —  in  his  coolest  and  most  distinctively  incisive  tone, 
••eplied :  — 

"  If  you  refer  to  me,  sir,  I  tell  you  candidly  and  plainly  that,  in  this 
controversy,  my.  sympathies  are  entirely  with  the  South ! M 

I  state  those  incidents  here,  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  strength  of 
iiis  patriotism  and  his  devotion  to  the  maintenance  of  the  Republic  in  it- 
integrity  —  which,  in  a  moment,  overcame  all  personal  predilections  and  pre 
conceived  opinions  on  the  question  at  issue. 

Meagher  returned  from  Connecticut  on  Monday  morning,  April  22d,  and 
called  at  the  Fenian  Brotherhood  office,  Xo.  6  Centre  street,  when  I  handed 
him  the  document  embodying  the  resolution  of  the  ("Phoenix  Zouaves") 
company.  He  read  it  with  evident  satisfaction  —  and  said:  — 

"  I   suppose  I  am  expected  to  reply   to  this  in  writing." 

I  told  him  that  I  presumed  the  "  boys "  would  be  pleased  to  have  him 
do  so  —  at  his  leisure.  He  had  the  paper  still  in  his  hand  —  when  our  con 
versation  was  interrupted  by  the  entrance  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Nugent,  of 
the  69ih  Regiment  —  then  under  orders  to  proceed  to  Washington.  Meagher 
had  just  transferred  the  paper  to  his  breast  pocket,*  when  Colonel  Nugent 
enquired :  — 

"Well,   Mr.   Meagher !  —  what  do  you  think  of  affairs  now?" 

Mr.   Meagher  answered :  — 

"  I  don't  know  what  to  think  of  them,  —  I  never  saw  such  a  change  in 
public  opinion  as  has  taken  piace  curing  the  past  week.  —  1  feel  like  one 
carried  away  by  a  torrent.  The  whole  cry  is  — '  The  Fag ! '  l  The  Flag ! ' 


*In  a  collection  of  highly  prized  documents,  In  MSS.  and  print,  connected  with  the 
General's  military  career,  which  has  been  kindly  placed  at  my  disposal  by  Mrs.  Meagher. 
I  find  this  Resolution  of  the  "Phoenix  Zouaves"  carefully  preserved- 


BATTLK  FI.AO  OK  THE  IRISH  BRIGADE. 


THE  H'Afi  FOR    THE  U'XION'.  369 

Then  he  exclaimed  energetically  — *•'•  Damn  them!  that  didn't  let  that  '•flag' 
c?one." 

Colonel  Nugent— observing  how  deeply  Meagher  was  moved  —  then  saic. : 

"As  you  feel  that  way,  Mr.  Meagher,   perhaps  you  might  take  a  notu. 
of  coming  with  us?" 

Meagher  —  after  a  moment's  reflection,   answered:  — 

'•I  do  not  know  but  I  might." 

Soon  after  Colonel  Nugent  went  away,   remarking,   as    he  left: — • 

'•You'll  think  over  this,   Mr.   Meagher!" 

The  reply  was  — "I   will  think  of  it." 

AVnen  we  were  again   alone,   I  earnestly   enquired :  — 

"  Did  you  mean  that,  Mr.  Meagher?"  (for  knowing  his  sentiments.  —  as 
expressed  a  few  days  previously  —  to  be  so  favorable  to  the  South  —  I  could 
not,  at  once,  comprehend  the  cause  of  so  sudden  and  radical  a  change  — 
but  he  soon  enlightened  me,  as  in  answer  to  my  enquiry  he  said)  : 

"Yes!  I  did  mean  it  —  for,  looking  at  every  aspect  of  the  question,  I 
do  not  see  what  better  course  I  could  take.  Duty  and  patriotism  alike 
prompt  me  to  it.  The  Republic,  that  gave  us  an  asylum  and  an  honorable 
career,  —  that  is  the  mainstay  of  human  freedom,  the  world  over  —  is  threat 
ened  with  disruption.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  liberty-loving  citizen  to  pre 
vent  such  a  calamity  at  all  hazards.  Above  all  is  it  the  duty  of  us  Irish 
citizens,  who  aspire  to  establish  a  similar  form  of  government  in  our  native 
land.  It  is  not  only  our  duty  to  America,  but  also  to  Ireland.  We 
could  not  hope  to  succeed  in  our  effort  to  make  Ireland  a  Republic 
without  the  moral  and  material  aid  of  the  liberty-loving  citizens  of  these 
United  States.  That  aid  we  might  rely  upon  receiving  at  the  proper  time. 
But  n<nc,  when  all  the  thoughts,  energies,  an.d  resources  of  this  noble  people 
are  needed  to  preserve  their  own  institutions  from  destruction  —  they  cannot 
spare  either  sympathy,  arms,  or  men,  for  any  other  cause. 

"  Another  thought  forces  itself  upon  me  in  connection  with  the  hopes 
we  entertain  for  Ireland.  It  is  a  moral  certainty  that  many  of  our  coun 
trymen  who  enlist  in  this  struggle  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Union  will 
fall  in  the  contest.  But,  even  so;  I  hold  that  if  only  one  in  ten  of  us 
come  back  when  this  war  it  over,  the  military  experience  gained  by  that 
one  will  be  of  more  service  in  a  fight  for  Ireland's  freedom  than  woulu 
that  of  the  entire  ten  as  they  are  now." 

Such,  in  brief,  were  Thomas  Francis  Meagher's  reasons  for  taking  hU 
stand  promptly  and  unreservedly,  under  the  symbol  of  the  Republic's  aove- 

24 


370  MEMOIRS    OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  ME  AGUES. 

reiguty.  They  were  his  first  utterances  on  the  subject,  unpremeditated  as 
they  were,  and  springing  spontaneously  from  his  heart,  they  were  enunci 
ated  with  the  deliberation  and  force  of  matured  conviction,  and,  in  their 
comprehensive  grasp  of  all  the  issues  involved,  exhibited  an  intuitive  clear 
ness  of  perception  that  seemed  akin  to  inspiration. 

Those  opinions  were  subsequently  expounded  more  elaborately  in  the 
many  eloquent  speeches  delivered  by  this  devoted  champion  of  liberty  dur 
ing  the  progress  of  the  war. 

I,   although    regretfully,   felt    compelled    to    coincide  with    nis  conclusions 

—  rendered     uncontravertable     as    they    were    by    the    stern    logic    of    existing 
facts ;    and    under    the    circumstances,   I    undertook  to  reconcile  the  Company 
to  the  acute  disappointment  which    I    knew  they  would  all  feel  on  learning 
his   decision. 

Requesting    me    to    assure    the   "Zouaves"   of  his  abiding  appreciation   of 

their  regard,  and  of  his   hope  of  yet  leading  them  on  the  field   of  their  choice 

—  he    left    me  —  to    consult    Colonel    Corcoran,   as  to  the  most  effective  mode 
of  carrying   out  his   intentions. 

When  John  O'Mahony  went  to  Ireland,  in  the  winter  of  1860,  Colone1 
Corcoran  took  his  place  as  Chief  Officer,  pro  tern,  of  the  Fenian  Brotherhood. 
Now,  that  urgent  duty  called  him,  also,  away  from  his  active  labors  in  the 
cause  of  his  Fatherland,  to  the  defence  of  the  flag  of  his  adopted  country, 
he  keenly  felt  the  gravity  of  the  situation,  and  the  onerous  responsibility 
it  devolved  upon  him. 

He  knew  that  the  first  shot  fired  at  the  flag  on  Fort  Sumter  revolu 
tionized  Irish  political  sentiment  throughout  the  Xorth,  and  he  feared  its 
effect  on  the  ardent  young  spirits  whom  it  had  been  his  pride  to  train,  — 
with  the  hope  of  one  day  leading  them  in  disciplined  strength  on  their 
native  hills.  Actuated  by  those  feelings,  when  on  Sunday,  April  21st,  he 
addressed  the  New  York  Fenian  Brotherhood,  he  earnestly  implored  all  who 
were  not  members  of  the  State  Militia  to  hold  aloof  from  the  fratricidal 
strife,  and  reserve  their  lives  for  the  cause  to  which  they  were  already 
pledged. 

He  said  that  there  were  ten  times  as  many  of  their  countrymen  (who 
were  not  yet  enrolled  Fenians,;  as  he  required  —  volunteered  to  join  the 
"  Sixtj'-ninth ; "  therefore,  so  far  as  the  strength  of  the  Regiment  was  con 
cerned,  there  was  no  occasion  for  depleting  Ireland's  ranks  to  fill  it.  But, 
he  added,  that  if,  notwithstanding  all  he  could  say  to  dissuade  them,  any 
of  his  brother  Fenians  were  still  determined  to  go  to  the  war,  he  preferred 


THE  WAR  FOB   THE  UXIOX.  371 

that    they   should    go    with    their    own    countrymen    than    have    their  services 
unappreciated,   and   their  national   identity   lost  among   strangers. 

He  counselled  those  who  stayed  behind  to  make  redoubled  exertions  dur 
ing  the  absence  of  their  comrades,  so  that,  when  they  met  again  they  would 
find  the  cause  stronger  than  ever.  Referring  to  the  departure  of  the  "  Sixty- 
ninth" —  on  the  following  Tuesday,  he  invited  his  brothers — the  "Phoenix 
Zouaves "  —  to  act  as  the  regiment's  escort  on  their  march  through  the  city. 

On  the  next  day,  'General  Corcoran  issued  the  following  official  circular, 
—  a  copy  of  which  was  transmitted  to  every  circle  of  the  Fenian  Brother 
hood  :  — 

"6  Centre  street,   Xew  York,"} 
April   22d,   1861.          ) 

"My  Dear  Sir,  —  A  sudden  emergency  calls  me  for  a  time  from  the 
duty  entrusted  to  me  by  Mr.  O'Mahony.  The  call  is  so  imperative  that  I 
must  obey  whatever  consequences  may  follow.  With  the  consent  of  the  Di 
rectory,  I  have  appointed  Mr.  John  Murphy  to  act  in  my  stead,  but  as  his 
business  will  keep  him  away  from  the  office,  it  has  been  deemed  advisable 
that  all  communications  should  be  addressed  to  Mr.  Cavanagh,  the  Secre 
tary.  This  will  insure  dispatch  and  regularity. 

"I  am  leaving  in  great  spirits  and  hope.  My  last  wish  and  most  ardent 
desire  is  that  the  organization  should  be  preserved  in  its  strength  and  effi 
ciency,  and  that  every  man  will  do  his  whole  duty.  We  will  not  be  the 
worse  for  a  little  practice,  which  we  engage  in,  with  the  more  heart  because 
we  feel  it  will  be  serviceable  on  other  fields. 

"With   the   warmest  wishes   for  yourself  and  your  Circle, 
"I  am,   my  dear  sir, 

"  Yours  Fraternallv, 

"MiciiAL  CORCORAN." 

But  in  spite  of  the  Fenian  Brotherhood's  determination  to  hold  aloof 
from  the  American  party  strife,  the  course  of  events  inevitably  drew  the 
citizen  soldiers  of  Ireland  into  the  vortex  which  threatened  to  engulf  the 
constitutional  liberty  of  their  adopted  land.  They  could  view  unmoved  the 
wordy  war  of  political  factions,  embittered  by  sectional  prejudices,  but  they 
could  not  stand  the  insult  to  the  Flag  under  whose  protecting  folds  they 
and  theirs  found  shelter  when  driven  by  persecution  from  their  old  home. 

When    the    Sixry-ninth   responded    to    the    Union's    call,— as    a  matter  of 


372  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

course — all  the  young  soldiers  of  the  "Phoenix  Brigade,"  who  were  affili 
ated  therewith,  promptly  took  their  places  in  the  rarfks  with  their  older 
associates,  and  personal  friendship,  and  patriotic  enthusiasm,  led  several  of 
their  brother- Fenians  to  accompanying  them  to  the  field. .  Such  of  them  as 
joined  the  Union  army  in  the  month  following  the  departure  of  the  Sixty- 
ninth,  generally  followed  Colonel  Corcoran's  advice  —  by  concentrating  in 
such  Irish  regiments  as  the  Thirty-seventh  N.  Y.  V.,  (•'  Irish  Rifles,")  the 
Forty-second  oST.  Y.  V.,  (Tammany  Regiment,)  and  the  Eighty-second  N.  Y. 
V.,  (formerly  the  "Second  Regiment  N.  Y.  S.  M.")  But  on  the  whole  — 
under  the  circumstances  —  the  men  of  the  "Phoenix  Brigade"  remained  as 
steadfast  as  could  be  expected  to  their  original  purpose. 

But  when  the  war  deepened  in  tragic  intensity,  and  when,  —  at  the  call 
of  Meagher  and  Corcoran  —  the  "Irish  Brigade!"  and  "Irish  Legion!"  sprang 
to  uphold  the  nation's  honor,  and  the  ancient  reputation  of  their  heroic 
race, — then  it  was  that  the  Fenian  element  made  itself  felt  in  the  Union 
Army  by  its  bravery  and  ability.  The  number  of  officers  it  coutribued  to 
the  cause  may  be  partly  estimated  from  the  annexed  quota  supplied  by  a 
single  company  — the  before  mentioned  "Phoenix  Zouaves:"  One  Lienten- 
ant-ColoneJ,  two  Majors,  three  Captains,  four  Lieutenants;  and  of  uon-com- 
missioned  officers  —  two  Sergeant-Majors,  and  two  Sergeants.* 


*0f  these  officers  two  were   killed  In  action,  and  seven  wounded. 


MARCH  OF   THE    SIXTY  NINTH.  373 


CHAPTER  LIX. 


DEPARTURE   OF  THE   SIXTY-NINTH, 

APEIL  23D,   1SG1. 

Oh!   'twas  a  gallant  day, 

In   memory   still  adored, 
That  day  of  our  sun-brigit  nuptials, 

With  the  musktt  and  the  swon  ! 
Shrill  rang  the  flfes,  the  bugles   b.ured, 

And  beneath  a  cloudless  Heaven 
Twinkled  a  thousand  bayonets, 

And  the  swords  were  thirty-"*  vcn. 

CHARLES  (*.  if  ALPINE. 

OF  the  half  million  human  beings  who  witnessed  the  ovation  Driven  the 
Sixty-ninth  on  their  march  down  Broadway  on  that  memorable  23J  of  April, 
18G1,  but  few  of  the  survivors  have  forgotten  the  thrilling  scene,  and  least 
of  all  those  of  Irish  birth  or  blood.  They  alone  could  comprehend  it.  for 
they  alone  could  sympathize  with,  and  share  in,  the  commingled  feelings 
that  found  expression  in  the  stormy  cheers,  and  passionate  prayers ;  the 
exultant  pride,  exuberant  joy,  and  rapturous  hope  of  the  departing  heroes; 
and  the  tears  and  blessings,  the  regrets,  the  caresses,-  and  low,  moaning 
wail  of  the  dear  ones  who  sorrowfully  and  lovingly  bade  them  what  might. 
be  a  last  farewell.  Mother,  wife,  sister,  sweet-heart,  all  giving  free  vent  10 
the  well-springs  of  feeling,  bubbling  fresh  and  pure  from  their  impulsive, 
kindly  Irish  hearts. 

Nor  were  those  manifestations  of  genuine  Celtic  nature  confme.1  to  the 
relatives  and  near  personal  friends  of  the  soldiers.  How  could  they,  ou 
such  an  occasion,  and  with  such  surroundings?  Not  a  man  or  woman 
of  their  sympathetic  race  could  witness  their  emotions  without  being 
similarly  affected.  This  was  observable  in  the  pale  or  flushed  faces,  the 
quivering,  compressed  lips,  and  misty  eyes,  of  rough,  horny-handed  toikrs 


374  MEMOIRS  OF  (JEN.    THOMAS  FUANCIX  MEAtiUEli. 

who,  commisseratingly,  looked  on  in  respectful  though  silent  sympathy ;  and 
in  the  unrestrained  tears  and  audible  wailings  of  the  maids  and  matrons  who 
constituted  half,  at  least,  of  the  dense  and  ever  increasing  crowd  that  surged 
and  swayed  about  their  armed  countrymen,  during  the  hours  in  which  the 
regiment  was  detained  at  the  junction  of  Great  Jones  street  and  Broad 
way,  by  the  delay  of  the  military  authorities  in  furnishing  the  necessary 
equipments. 

A  little  before  three  o'clock  a  loud  and  prolonged  cheer  announced  the 
arrival,  at  the  right  of  the  line,  of  Colonel  Corcoran — accompanied  by 
Thomas  Francis  Meagher  and  Judge  Charles  P.  Daly.  The  last-named  gen- 
tlem,  on  behalf  of  his  estimable  lady,  presented  the  regiment  with  a  hand 
some  silk  flag  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  which  was  placed  beside  the  Green 
flag  presented  a  short  time  previously  by  the  citizens  of  New  York  to  the 
Sixty-ninth,  in  appreciation  of  its  action  in  declining  to  parade  before  the 
Prince  of  Wales.  Then  the  long-expected  command  to  march  was  given, 
and,  under  both  flags,  the  regiment  wheeled  into  Broadway,  and  proceeded 
down  that  noble  thoroughfare  on  their  way  to  the  boat  at  Pier  number 
four  North  Iliver. 

Then  commenced  the  culminating  scene  of  that  eventful  day  —  a  scene 
the  like  of  which  has  never  been  v\iiuessed  in  New  York,  or  (with,  per 
haps,  one  exception,)  been  participated  in  by  the  '•  Children  of  the  Gael" 
—  either  at  home  or  abroad. 

MICHAEL  DOHENY,  one  of  the  most  interested  and  deeply-affected  wit 
nesses  of  this  outburst  of  genuine  Celtic  feeling, — whose  great,  loving,  Irish 
heart  throbbed  responsive  to  every  emotion  which  swayed  the  hearts  of  the 
mighty  multitude  —  drew  a  parallel  between  it,  and  the  exception  referred 
to  above  —  the  "Sailing  of  the  Wild  Geese;"  —  which,  he,  justly,  observed, 
"must  have  surpassed  it  in  the  grandeur  of  its  sorrow,  but  fallen  short  of 
it  in  enthusiasm."  Coutiuuiug  the  description,  he  writes:  — 

"  Every  heart  bled,  every  eye  was  wet,  every  face  was  flushed,  every 
bosom  palpitated.  The  highest  passions  of  the  Celtic  race  were  stirred  to 
their  very  depths.  Vehemence,  ardor,  devotion,  fidelity,  strong,  deep,  untold 
love,  were  in  the  hearts  and  acts  of  all." 

Yet,  whatever,  general  resemblance  there  may  have  been  between  the 
picture  of  Sarsfield's  veterans  parting  from  wives  and  children  on  the  quay 
of  Cork,  and  that  presented  by  the  departure  of  the  Sixty-ninth  from  New 
York,  there  was  an  essential  difference  in  the  emotions  which  swayed  the 
hearts  of  the  principal  figures  in  either  of  these  historical  scenes.  The  "De- 


MAliCH   OF   THE   SIXTY  NIXTII  375 

feuders  of  Limerick"  left  country  and  kindred  with  hearts  filled  with  blackest 
hate  and  an  implacable  thirst  for  vengeance  on  the  treacheious  foes  who, 
at  the  last  moment,  prevented  their  families  from  accompanying  them  into 
voluntary  exile,  while  utter  despair  overwhelmed  the  poor  disconsolate  vic 
tims  thus  abandoned,  and  found  expression  in  that  agonized,  soul-piercing 
wail,  which,  in  concentrated  misery,  has  never  had  a  parallel  on  God's 
earth :  — 

"Their  women's  parting  cry." 

But  no  trace  of  despair  was  perceptible  in  the  impassioned  actions  or 
utterances  of  those  Irish  women  and  girls  who  lined  Broadway  on  that 
sunny  April  afternoon,  and  gave  free  vent  to  their  emotions  as  their  coun 
trymen  swept  past,  —  though  ••  sorrow,"  "regret,''  and  "pity"  found  fre 
quent  and  audible  expression,  and  fears  for  the  safety  of  sou,  brother,  or 
"friend"  were  occasionally  whispered  between  sympathetic  acquaintances. 

But  the  sentiment  which  found  most  frequent  expression  from  old  and 
young,  was  not  that  of  sorrow  or  regret  that  their  countrymen  were  going 
to  battle — but  that  they  were  not  going  to  battle  on  another  field. 

"Oh!   what  haim   if   they   were   going   to   fight   elsewhere?" 
"What   harm    if   't    v  as   to  Ireland  they   were   going?" 

These  and  similar  expressions  were' repeated  in  such  fervid  and  pathetic 
tones,  all  along  the  line  of  march,  as  to  lorce  sympathetic  tears  from  nearly 
all  who  heard  them  —  men,  or  women,  of  their  warm-hearted  race.  At  the 
halts  along  the  route,  —  (and  they  were  frequent  and  at  brief  intervals  — 
owing  to  the  difficulty  of  forcing  a  passage  through  the  crowded'  street),  — 
impulsive  rushes  would  be  made  for  the  soldiers,  —  kisses  and  prayers  show 
ered  on  them  by  their  afl'tctiouate,  sobbing  countrywomen  —  with  a 

"  God   bless   ye,    boys,   and  send   ye   safe   home ! " 

"\Vhile  a  strong  grasp  of  the  hand,   and  a  fervid 

"Kernember  your  country,  and  ktep  up  its  credit,  boy!"  spoke  the 
feelings  of  the  men. 

Little  cared  they  —  those  exiled  "Children  of  the  Gael!"  — what  were 
their  present  surroundings,  or  who  witnessed  this  ebullition  of  their  feel 
ings.  They  were  i  artiug  "  their  oicn"  —  perhaps  forever;  aud  were  oblivious  to 
every  thing  else  in  that  all-absorbiug  fact. 

As  "despair"  found  no  expression  in  the  emotions  of  their  loving- 
hearted  sisters,  so  neither  had  "hatred,"  or  a  thirst  for  revenge,  a  place 
in  the  hearts  or  thoughts  of  the  brave  fellows  who  were  the  recipients  of 


376  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

their  affectionate  leave-takings,  and  who  resolutely  marched  to  confront  in 
deadly  contest,  men  who,  a  week  before,  were  their  fellow-citizens,  but  now 
—  through  some  inconceivable  fatality,  transformed  into  enemies  of  the  Con 
stitution  and  Flag  they  had  pledged  their  lives  to  defend.  Honest  pride  in 
their  adopted  country ;  a  feeling  of  gratitude  which  intensified  their  sense 
of  duty  to  that  country  in  its  hour  of  peril,  and  an  abiding  hope  of  being 
some  day  —  if  God  spared  them  —  enabled  to  devote  their  soldierly  experience 
to  the  liberation  of  the  land  of  their  birth  and  first  love,  —  these  constituted 
their  actuating  motives,  and  nerved  them  for  whatever  fate  was  in  store 
for  them.  And  so  they  wended  their  way  to  the  boat,  far  less  impressed 
by  the  spirit-stirring  music  of  the  bands,  or  the  thrilling  cheers  which,  from 
sidewalk  to  house-top  greeted  them  on  their  line  of  march,  than  by  those 
plaintive,  affectionate  salutations,  conveyed  in  the  familiar  accents  which 
filled  their  hearts  wih  tender  memories  of  their  old  home  —  in  that  loved  Isle 
beyond  the  sea. 

It  was  near  6  o'clock,  p.  M.,  when  the  Sixty-ninth  embarked  on  board 
the  "James  Adyer,"  and  sailed  for  Annapolis,  Md.  They  reached  Annapolis 
on  the  26th,  and  were  assigned  quarters  in  the  Naval  Academy  and  the 
adjoining  grounds.  The  next  day  they  were  assigned  to  duty  in  guarding 
the  railroad  between  Annapolis  and  Annapolis  Junctiou.  Two  days  after 
wards  thty  received  orders  to  march  for  Washington,  by  way  of  the  rail 
road  —  which  had  been  destroyed,  and  which  it  was  their  mission  to  repair 
and  defend,  as  they  marched  over  it  to  the  capital. 

Thtir  services  were  so  well  appreciated  by  the  government  officials  that, 
on  the  day  of  their  expected  arrival  in  the  city  General  Spinner,  afterwards 
Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  addressed  the  following  letter,  on  their 
behalf,  to  the  Secretary  of  War :  — 

"  TREASURER'S  OFFICE,  May  2,  1861. 
"  My   Dear  General : 

"  The  Sixty-ninth  New  York  regiment  will  be  here  to-day.  The  regi 
ment  has,  as  you  know,  been  on  active  duty  along  the  line  of  the  railroad 
from  here  to  Annapolis,  and  has,  of  course,  had  no  rest.  It  is  essential 
that  it  should  have  the  best  quarters  that  can  be  had.  I  have  reasons  for 
making  the  request. 

"Very  respectfully  yours, 

"SPINNER,    M.    C. 

'•Gen.    S.   Cameron,   Sec'y   of  War." 

Upon  this  suggestion  the  Secretary   of   War   issued   the  following   order: 


MAECH  OF  ThE  tUXTY-XINTH  377 

"  HEADQUARTERS,   Department  Washington,  ] 
May  4,   1861.  } 

"  The  Sixty-ninth  Regiment,  New  York,  is  authorized  to  occupy  George 
town  Heights,  and  the  College,  until  further  orders. 

UJ.  K.  MANSFIELD,, 

"  Col.   and  Commandant." 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Richard  O'Gorman,  Colonel  Corcoran  thus  alludes  to 
their  new  quarters :  — 

May  8th,   1861. 

"  I  could  not  finish  my  letter  last  evening  in  time  for  the  mail.  The 
President,  with  the  Secretary  of  State,  the  Secretary  of  War  and  other 
members  of  the  Cabinet,  visited  us  to-day  and  reviewed  the  regiment. 

"  The  Secretary  of  War  sent  an  order  to  Xew  York,  for  Thomas  F. 
Meagher's  Company  and  a  few  hundred  whom  I  was  obliged  to  leave  behind. 
They  are  to  march  via  Baltimore.  I  received  Captain  Meagher's  letter,  but 
am  so  busy,  (even  his  case  occupied  me  a  little  in  endeavoring  to  arrange 
for  his  coming  forward,)  that  I  have  to  request  you  to  have  me  excused 
for  not  writing  to  him.  When  I  meet  him  here,  which  will  be  in  a  few 
days,  I  shall  then  make  up  for  the  matter,  and  make  him  feel  happy  — 
more  happy  than  I  could  by  writing  twenty  pages. 

"  The  flag-staff  is  up,  and  the  cheering  has  not  died  away.  The  pole  ia 
ninety  feet  high,  made  from  two  stately  trees  cut  on  this  ground.  I  j.m 
desirous  of  describing  our  present  quarters,  but  time  will  only  permit  me 
to  do  it  very  briefly.  The  rooms  are  large  enough  to  drill  in  by  Company; 
the  dining-room  accommodates  five  hundred  at  a  time;  the  Company's  store 
is  capable  of  containing  thirty  days'  provisions  for  the  men.  We  have  sixty- 
five  water  tanks  for  the  men  to  wash  in.  There  are  pumps  in  all  parts  of 
the  yard,  four  ball  alleys,  and  all  kinds  of  gymnastic  exercises,  an  excellent 
parade  ground,  and  miles  of  the  most  beautiful  walks.  I  wish  you  could 
find  time  to  run  out  and  see  us  before  we  move. 

'•  With  kindest   wishes   to   all  friends, 

a  1  remain   very  truly  your, 

'MICHAEL  CORCORAN, 

•'Col.    69th   Reg't." 

Before  the  Regiment  was  mustered  into   the   service  of  the  United   States, 


378  MEMOIRS    OF  GEN.   THOMAS  fRANClti  MEAGHER. 

Colonel  Corcoran,  by  personal  application  to  President  Lincoln,  obtained  an 
order  from  the  War  Department  authorizing  him  to  increase  its  strength  by 
three  hundred  men.  This  reinforcement  it  was  intended,  should  include  a 
company  of  "  Zouazes,"  commanded  by  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  and  such 
members  of  the  Regiment  as  had  been  unable  to  join  it  on  the  day  of  its 
departure  from  New  York. 


CHAPTER   LX. 


ORGANIZATION   OF  MEAGHER'S    IRISH    ZOUAVES.  —  REMINISCENCES 

OF  FORT  CORCORAN. 

IN  his  consultation  with  Colonel  Corcoran  —  on  the  day  before  the  Sixty- 
ninth  left  New  York — Meagher  ascertained  that,  —  as  the  '•  Brigade  Lan 
cers,"  (which  command  was  attached  to  the  Sixty-ninth,)  could  not  go  with 
the  Regiment  —  there  was  a  vacancy  of  one  company,  "K,"  to  be  filled. 
This  was  the  opportunity  Meagher  wished  for,  and  he  took  immediate  steps  to 
organize  the  required  Company.  It  had  been  arranged  between  himself  and 
Colonel  Corcoran  that  the  new  Company  should  be  designated  the  "  Irish 
Zouaves,"  and  wear  the  Zouave  uniform.  Meagher's  own  uniform  was  made 
on  the  pattern  of  that  worn  by  an  officer  of  the  •'  Phoenix  Zouaves." 

The  following  call  for    recruits   was   issued   April   22d,  1861: 

"  YOUNG    IRISHMEN   To    ARMS! 

"  To    Aims    YOUNG   IRISHMEN  ! 

"  IRISH   ZOUAVES. 

-One  hundred  young  Irishmen  —  healthy,  intelligent  and  active  —  wanted 
at  once  to  form  a  Company  under  command  of 


MEAGHER'S  IE  IS  hi  ZOUAVES  379 

"THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

"To  be  attached  to  the  69th  Regiment,  N.  Y.  S.  M.  No  applicant 
under  eighteen  or  above  thirty-five  will  be  enrolled  inthe  Company. 

"  Application  to  be  made  at  36  Beekman  street,  every  day,  between  the 
hours  of  10  A.  M.  and  5  P.  M." 

Before  the  end  of  that  week  the  required  number  of  recruits  were  en 
rolled,  the  officers  elected,  and  the  Company  drilling  industriously  in  one  of 
Captain  Phelan's  large  rooms,  at  his  billiard  establishment,  corner  of  10th 
street  and  Broadway.  There  they  remained  for  three  weeks  longer,  for, 
owing  to  the  delay  of  the  State  Government  in  mustering  them  into  the 
service,  they  did  not  leave  for  Washington  until  the  22d  of  May.  Meagher 
had,  pending  the  enforced  delay,  paid  a  visit  to  the  69th  at  their  quarters 
in  Georgetown,  and  returned  to  New  York  much  pleased  with  the  progress 
made  by  the  Regiment  in  their  military  exercises. 

On  the  night  of  the  23d  he  entered  the  National  Capital  at  the  head 
of  his  Company  and  about  two  hundred  other  recruits  for  the  69th. 

A  correspondent  for  one  of  the  New  York  papers  gives  the  following 
account  of  his  reception :  — 

"Last  night,  about  eleven  o'clock,  I  was  standing  near  the  corner  of 
Pennsylvania  avenue  and  llth  street.  The  music  of  a  fine  band  from  the  direc 
tion  of  the  White  House  swelled  down  the  street.  I  thought  it  was  the  band 
from  the  President's,  Old  Abe  having  held  a  reception  to  which  the  officers  of 
the  various  corps  now  stationed  in  this  city  had  been  invited.  As  it  came  nearer 
it  sounded  extremely  like  the  music  of  a  New  York  band.  See  what  instinct 
does!  The  band  was  accompanied  by  about  two  hundred  men  in  full  uni 
form,  and  quite  a  number  of  officers. 

"  A  line  was  formed  near  7th  street,  arms  presented  —  the  band  struck 
up,  and  two  mounted  officers  rode  past.  There  was  an  enrestrainable  cheer 
from  the  ranks,  and  if  their  hands  had  not  been  holding  arms  Celtic  enthu 
siasm  would  have  elevated  some  hats  and  caps  in  the  air.  The  line  of 
march  was  taken  this  time  up  the  avenue:  the  two  mounted  officers,  pre 
ceded  by  the  baud  and  commandants,  and  followed  by  the  detachment. 

"  By  this  time,  late  as  the  hour  was,  a  large  concourse  of  people  had 
assembled.  The  baud  was  Robertson's  —  the  troops  a  portion  of  the  69th. 
One  of  the  mounted  officers,  as  seen  by  the  starlight  and  the  glimmer 
of  the  lamps  on  the  corners,  was  a  moustached,  stoutly  built  gentle 
man,  dressed  in  a  black  coat  and  a  hat  looped  up  at  the  side.  He  was 


380  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN    THOMAS    FRANCIS  MEAGHEB. 

the  object  of  attraction.  A  citizen  of  Washington,  commendably  curious  t< 
know  who  was  the  stout,  militar}--looking  man,  who  sat  his  horse  so  well. 
asked  a  by-stander. 

"'That,'  said  the  party  interrogated,  'is  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  come 
on  with  another  regiment  from  New  York.' 

"And  so  it  was.  Up  the  avenue  the  soldiers  and  the  crowd  went  together. 
Past  Willard's  —  by  the  Treasury  Building  —  on  still  further,  the  lights  in 
the  reception  rooms  of  the  White  House  still  burning,  between  the  statues 
of  Jefferson  and  Jackson,  the  Tribune  went,  followed  by  the  crowd  to  his 
quarters  at  Georgetown. 

"  Opposite,  or  rather  between  the  two  figures,  I  stopped  and  watched 
the  procession  as  it  advanced.  Going  'Sack  to  my  quarters,  the  strains  of 
the  music  floating  downward  from  the  hills  above  to  the  city  below,  under 
the  quiet  sky,  I  could  not  help  reflecting  much  on  the  life  of  him  wbr 
was  the  recipient  of  the  night's  honor.  The  youth  inspired  by  'the  clou  \\ 
and  lightning  genius  of  the  Gael,'  a  young  generation,  ot  whom  I  was  one, 
hung  upon  his  lips,  and  hoped  to  follow  him  to  victory  and  the  revivifica 
tion  of  an  old  nation :  the  brave,  sad  effort,  the  trial,  the  transportation. 
the  escape  from  bondage;  and  now  a  volunteer  in  the  grand  army  of  thn 
Republic.  Through  all  he  has  carried  with  him  the  same  pure,  proud,  hon 
orable  heart;  the  same  kindly  and  generous  feelings  and  sympathies,  fcui 
the  same  intense  scorn  for  the  base  and  venal.  May  he  triumph ! "  J.  L. 

THE  SIXTY-NINTH  IN  VIRGINIA.  —  CONSTRUCTION  OF  FORT  CORCORAN. 

On  the  day  succeeding  that  of  Meagher's  reporting  for  duty  at  Regi 
mental  Headquarters,  the  Sixty-ninth  received  orders  to  cross  the  Potomac 
into  Virginia.  Before  leaving  Georgetown,  Colonel  Corcoran  received  a  letter 
from  the  Mayor,  expressive  of  that  official's  high  estimate  of  the  good  order 
and  patriotism'  of  his  Regiment. 

The  low  range  of  hills  known  as  "Arlington  Heights,"  extend  for  about 
five  miles  on  the  Virginia  side  of  the  Potomac,  and  at  an  average  distance 
of  half  a  mile  from  that  river.  "Arlington  House"  is  situated  in  about 
the  middle  of  the  range,  and  is  directly  opposite  the  city  of  Washington, 
and  between  the  two  bridges  leading  from  the  Virginia  shore  to  that  city. 

The  upper  one  of  those  bridges,  known  as  the  Aqueduct-Bridge,  leads 
directly  into  Georgetown.  Several  deep  ravines  extend  down  the  slope  01 
the  Heights  to  the  river.  At  the  commencement  of  the  war,  both  the 
ravines  and  the  whole  eastern  face  of  the  Heights  were  thickly  wooded 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  FORT  CORCORAN  381 

The    summit    of    the    range    constitutes   a  fairly  level   table-land,   from  which 
the  ground  slopes  to  the  west  at  a  gradual   incline. 

"When,  in  May,  1861,  the  government  determined  to  occupy  Arlington 
Heights  and  Alexandria,  a  force  of  about  eight  thousand  men  crossed  the 
river  for  that  purpose,  anu  each  command  immediatel}'  commenced  the  erec 
tion  of  strong  earthworks  on  their  several  positions.  To  the  Sixty-ninth 
was  assigned  the  hill  nearest  the  Aqueduct-Bridge,  and  commanding  the  road 
leading  westward  to  Fairfax  Court  House. 

On  the  level  summit  of  this  hill,  the  site  of  a  bastioned  fort,  six  hun 
dred  and  fifty  by  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  was  staked  out  by  the  engi 
neers,  and  the  regiment  at  once  set  to  work  throwing  up  intrenchments 
and  cutting  down  the  timber  in  the  vicinity  of  the  camp.  Such  was  the 
energy  with  which  they  labored,  that  the  work  which  it  was  calculated 
would  occupy  three  thousand  men  for  three  weeks,  was  finished  by  twelve 
hundred  in  a  week. 

During  the  progress  of  the  work,  the  President,  and  several  members  of 
his  Cabinet  paid  the  Sixty-ninth  a  visit,  and  by  their  well-merited  praises, 
gave  much  encouragement  to  the  men  in  their  arduous  labors.  Mr.  Lincoln's 
affable  manner  and  cheerful  badinage  made  him  an  especial  favorite  with 
these  rough-and-ready  appreciators  of  genuine  kindness  and  good  humor. 

Colonel  Corcoran  named  these  defences  "Fort  Seward,"  in  honor  of  the 
Secretary  of  State,  who  had  shown  the  regiment  many  acts  of  kindness, 
but  the  War  Department,  in  consideration  of  the  efficiency  of  the  Sixty- 
ninth,  and  their  unceasing  physical  exertions,  and  as  a  token  of  respect  to 
their  Colonel,  insisted  that  the  fort  they  built  should  bear  his  name,  and 
be  recognized  in  future  operations  as  "Fort  Corcoran!" 

HOISTING  THK  STARRY-BANNER  ix  "DIXIE."  — DEDICATORY  CEREMONIES. 

On  she  afternoon  of  Thursday,  May  30th.  the  "Stars  and  Stripes"  were 
unfurled  to  the  breeze  by  Captain  James  Cavanagh  of  Company  C,  Sixty-ninth 
Regiment,  to  that  company  being  delegated  the  honor  of  first  raising  in 
Fort  Corcoran  the  flag  of  the  United  States. 

HENRY  WATTERSOX,  ESQ.,  — the  distinguished  journalist —was  present  on 
that  occasion,  and  some  time  subsequently  contributed  to  the  Philadelphia 
Press,  over  the  nom  de  plume  of  "Asa  Trenchard,"  a  description  of  the 
proceedings  —  entitled :  — 


382  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  ME  AGREE. 


"THE  FIRST  FLAG-KAISING  OVER  FEDERAL  BATTLEMENTS  IN  THE  OLD 

DOMINION," 

which,  as  an  interesting  historical  episode  in  the  carer  of  the  gallant  Sixty- 
ninth,  cannot  be  omitted  from  any  chronicle  that  would  record  the  strength 
and  patriotism  which  constructed  Fort  Corcoran. 

Arriving  just  in   time  for  the   "grand,   imposing  spectacle,"  he  says:  — 

"As  I  stood  and  surveyed  the  hastily-summoned  regiment  — thirteen  hundred 
of  them  —  some  in  red  flannel  shirts,  with  sleeves  rolled  up.  exposing  the 
grand  sinews  of  brawny  arms;  some  in  blue  jackets,  soiled  with  the  toil  of 
the  trenches ;  some  in  white  flowing  havelocks ;  some  in  cocked  hats,  and 
some  bare-headed,  it  was  impossible  to  repress  an  audible  expression  of 
admiration  at  the  splendid  material  represented  for  the  work  or  the  glory 
of  war.  There  the  dark  brows,  lowering  from  massive  foreheads  over  flashing 
eyes ;  there,  pale  but  bleachless  cheeks  to  fear,  kuit  closely  to  impreg 
nable  lips,  the  craters  of  flaming  and  invincible  breath,  the  pride  and  prowess 
of  representative  Ireland,  the  issue  of  that  spreading  Celtic  seed  which  has 
BOW"  the  world  with  power,  stood  before  me. 

"The  troops  were  drawn  up  in  a  semicircle,  gradually  rising  within  the 
amphitheatre  formed  by  the  mounds  of  earth-erected  batteries,  the  front 
flies  sitting,  the  next  grade  stooping,  and  the  rear  ranks  standing  upon  the 
declivity,  as  it  sloped  upward  toward  the  '  outer  walls,'  the  whole  present 
ing  the  spectacle  of  a  circus  audience,  seen  from  the  centre-post  in  the 
ring;  this  centre-post  being  a  noble  shaft  from  which  the  banner  now 
waves. 

"The  group  around  this  'pillar  of  ligkt '  were  Colonel  Corcoran  (now 
General,)  Colonel  Hunter  (now  Major-General)  of  the  regular  army,  Captain 
Meagher  (now  Brigadier-General,)  John  Savage,  volunteer  aid  to  Colonel 
Corcoran,  and,  of  course,  '  Asa  Treuchard.' 

"Now  for  the  ceremony: 

"First,  Colonel  Corcoran  introduced  Colonel  Hunter,  who  nad  just  been 
assigned  the  command  of  the  Brigade  of  the  Aqueduct,  consisting  of  the 
Fifth,  Twenty-eighth,  and  Sixty-ninth  New  York  regiments,  making  some 
patriotic  allusions  to  the  flag.  Colonel  Hunter  was,  of  course,  received  with 
lould  acclaim.  (He  said  he  had  never  made  a  speech,  but  he  would  wish 
every  success  to  brave,  generous,  and  valorous  Ireland). 

"Then  Meagher  was  called  out  by  the  throng.    He  stepped  forward  and 


FIRST  FLAG-RAISTNG.  383 

made  a  brief  but  patriotic  and  high-toned  address,  showing  the  devotion 
Irishmen  should  bear  the  flag  which  brought  succor  to  them  in  Ireland* 
and  to  which,  upon  Jauding  in  this  country,  they  swore  undivided  alle- 
giauce.  It  was  heartily  applauded  throughout. 

(Meagher  commenced  by  saying  that  "  he  hai  labored  under  the  expec 
tation,  in  fact,  the  conviction,  that  he  would  be  relieved  from  the  obliga 
tions  which  Fate  had  decreed  him  in  civil  life,  of  making  speeches,  and 
indulging  in  oratorical  display,  wherever  and  whenever  his  presence  might  he 
discovered,  but  he  found  that  even  on  the  tented  field,  his  inexorable  desfeiny 
still  pursued  him.  He  continued  for  some  time  in  one  of  those  beautiful 
and  happy  efforts  for  which  he  was  so  pregnant,  and  concluded  with  the 
sentiment  that  he  "hopeu  the  69  £h  would  stand  by  the  flag  until  the  ban 
ner  of  the  entire  Union  had  been  replaced  on  every  fort  and  arsenal  from 
which  it  had  been  improperly,  illegally  and  nefariously  torn  down.") 

"John  Savage,  at  the  desire  of  Colonel  Corcoran,  sung  the  following 
song  to  the  air  of  '  Dixie's  Land.'  It  was  written  by  himself,  and  is  enti- 
titled  — 


'THE    STARRY    FLAG. 

1  AIK  —  DIXIES'S    LAND. 


'  Oh  the  starry  Flag  is  the  Flag  for  me ! 
'Tis  the  Flag  cf  life!  the  Flag  of  the  Free, 

Then   hurrah  !  hurrah ! 
For  the  Flag  of  the  Union  ! 

Oh,  the  Srrry  Flag,  &c. 
We'll  raise  that  starry  banner,  boys, 

Hurrah !  hurrah ! 

Wt'Vl  raise  that  starry  banner.  bo>s, 
Whore  no  power  in  wrath  can  face  it ! 

On  to\\u  and  field 

The  people's  shield, 
No  treason  can  erase  it ! 

O'er  all  the  laud 

That  Flag  must  stand, 
Where  the  people's  might  shall  place  it. 

'That  Flag  was  won  through  gloom  and  woe! 
It  has  biessed  the  brave  and  awed  the  foe ! 
Then  hurrah  !  hurrah  ! 

For  the  Flag  of  the  Union ! 

That  Flag  was  won.  &c. 
We'll  raise  that  starry  banner,  boys, 
Hurrah !  hurrah ! 


384  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAQHER. 


We'll  raise  that  starry  banner,  boys, 
Where  the  stripes  no  hand  can  sever ! 

On  fort  and  mast 

We'll  nail  it  fast, 
To  balk  all  base  endeavor ! 

O'er  roof  and  spire 

A  living  fire 
The  stars  shall  blaze  forever ! 

'Tis  the  people's  will,  both  great  and  small, 
The  right  of  the  States,  the  Union  of  all ! 

Then  hurrah  !  h,urrah  ! 

For  the  Flag  of  the  Union ! 

'Tis  the  People's  will,  &c. 
We'll  raise  that  starry  banner,  hoys, 

Hurrah !   hurrah ! 

We'll  raise  that  starry  banner,  boys, 
Till  it  is  the  world's  wonder ! 

On  fort  and  crag 

We'll  plant  that  flag 
With  the  People's  voice  of  thunder! 

We'll  plant  that  Flag 

Where  no  hand  can  drag 
Its  immortal  folds  asunder ! 

'  We  must  keep  that  Flag  where  it  e'er  has  stood, 
In  front  of  the  free,  the  wise  and  the  good ! 

Then  hurrah !  hurrah ! 

For  the  Flag  of  the  Union ! 

We  must  keep  that  Flag,  &c. 
We'll  raise  that  starry  banner,  boys, 
On  field,  fort,  mast  aud  steeple ! 

And  fight  and  fall 

At  our  country's  call 
By  the  glorious  Fjag  of  the  People ! 

In  God,  the  Just, 

We  place  our  trust, 
To  defend  the  Flag  of  the  People ! 

'On  board  U.  S.   transport   Marion,  \ 
Monday,  May  13,    18G1.'  f 

"  The  enthusiam  which  this  peculiarly  stirring  song,  with  its  splendid 
refrain  chorused  by  thirteen  hundred  brave  voices  aroused,  while  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  floated  proudly  from  the  mast-head  in  the  melting  sunset  on 
the  sweet  breeze  from  the  river,  cannot  be  described.  It  was  electrical. 
There  stood  the  author  himself  by  the  side  of  Meagher,  both  symbols  of  Irish 
patriotism ;  there  stood  those  dauntless  men,  their  brothers  in  arms  and 
exile;  and  there,  above  all  —  the  stripes  vying  with  the  red  streaks  of  the 
west,  and  its  stars  with  the  silveV  globes  that  already  began  to  break 
through  the  sky  —  waved  the  banner  which  had  come  to  them  when  starving, 
Which  had  protected  them  when  flying,  and  for  whose  preservation  and  per- 


Fill 3 2'  FLAG  RAISING.  385 


petuation  they  now  maiched  to  the  roll  of  the  national  reveille!  Well  might 
it  awaken  these  gratelul  hearts;  and  no  wonder  that  when  the  last  thun 
ders  of  the  final  verse,  roarii  g  like  distant  artillery,  were  rising  up  like 
vigils  around  the  flag,  they  broke  Irom  their  places  and  surrounded  their 
chief,  their  crater,  their  pri<  st  and  their  poet  in  a  general  Irish  'hullabaloo,' 
cs  inspiring  as  a  camp  meeting. 

ul  must  say  it  was  very  hard,  betv.een  the  comic,  grotesque  scene  now 
presented  to  the  eye,  and  the  earnest  heart-felt  associations  imaged  to  the 
heart,  to  refrain  Irom  mingled  convulsions  of  laughter  and  crying." 

Nearly  twenty  years  after  I  first  read  the  foregoing  animated  descrip 
tion  of  the  flag-raising  on  Fort  Corcoran.  I  had  the  great  pleasure  of  mak 
ing  the  personal  acejuaiutance  of  the  distinguished  writer;  and,  by  a  hap 
py  coincidence  —  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  '-poet'-  of  the  occasion 
—  our  mutual  friend,  John  Savage.  It  was  during  Mr.  Savage's  last  visit 
to  Washington  in  the  summer  of  1S84.  We  were  in  the  Capitol  together, 
when  we,  accidentally,  met  Mr.  Watterson,  and  our  introduction  followed. 
Mr.  Watterson,  in  turn,  introduced  both  of  us  to  his  lather  —  a  venerable, 
plenfaut  old  gentleman  —  then  hale  and  hearty.  While  we  were  exchanging 
salutations,  we  were  joined  by  Mr.  Thomas  Seton  Donoho,  an  old  friend  of 
Messrs.  Wattersou  and  Savage,  but  to  me,  until  then  only  known  by  repu 
tation  as  the  u  Poet  of  Ivy  wall ! ''  and  a  warm  friend  of  John  Mitchell's. 

Mr.  Watterson.  junior,  proposed  that  we  should  dine  together  at  the 
House  Ikstaurant,  but  his  father,  —  having  to  fulfil  an  engagement — excused 
himself  and  bade  us  a  cheeriul  "  good-bye." 

The  few  houis  that  followed  were  among  the  pleasantest  of  my  life  in 
America;  for,  though  it  was  my  first  meeting  with  two  of  the  party,  those 
congenial  spirits  soon  made  me  feel  as  if  we  were  all  old  comrades  —  there 
were  so  many  things  in  -\\hieh  we  mutually  sympatnized.  In  the  course  of 
conversation  I  told  Mr.  Wattcrson  that  "Asa  Trenchard's "  description  of 
the  "  FJag-raisirg  on  Fort  Corcoran"  first  led  to  my  knowledge  of  what  an 
appieciative  and  S}  mpathi/ing  friend  Ireland  had  in  him,  when  he,  laugh 
ingly  told  me  that  some  of  his,  whilome,  Southern  friends,  seemed  to  be 
exceedingly  exasperated  by  these  articles;  that  they  accused  him  of  being 
little  letter  than  a  u  Black  Eepublican "  at  heart,  and  broadly  intimated 
that  "  lynching"  was  about  just  what  he  merited. 

"But,"  he  added,  turning  to  Savage,  "do  you  know,  Mike,  that  'tis 
this  fellow,  —  your  friend  'Jack,'  here  —  was  responsible  for  it  all  —  for  'tis 
he  who  first  made  me  a  'Young  Irelander!'" 

25 


386  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FEANC1S  MEAGHER. 

I  then  proceeded  to  give  them  the  following  account  of  a  visit  I  had 
made  to  Fort  Corcoran,  five  years  after  the  termination  of  the  wai,  and  of 
the  gloomy  contrast  it  then  presented  to  that  which  "  Asa  Trenchard's  "  vivid 
description  had  indelibly  impressed  on  my  memory. 

REMINISCENCES  OF  FORT  CORCORAN. 

When  I  visited  Fort  Corcoran,  for  the  first  ttme,  in  September,  1870, 
the  place  presented  a  melancholy  contrast  to  what  it  did  on  the  day  the 
"  Stars  and  Stripes "  were  first  hoisted  above  it.  The  fort  had  been  aban 
doned  by  the  government  some  short  time  previously  —  the  guns  and  plat 
forms  removed,  the  flag-staff  cut  down,  and  the  stockade,  which  originally 
defended  the  side  facing  the  river  had  also  disappeared ;  even  the  heavy 
logs  which  supported  the  roof  of  the  "  magazine "  had  been  partially  dis 
placed —  (the  door  was  gone  altogether) — I  presume  to  supply- fire  wood  to 
the  dwelling  which,  with  its  garden,  occupied  a  portion  of  the  enclosed 
ground.  The  huge  ramparts,  however,  appeared  as  if  they  were  destined 
to  last  for  centuries, — perpetuating  the  memory  of  the  brave  builders  and 
their  heroic  commander :  — 

"The  proofs  of  Irish  loyalty  — 
The  work  of  Irish  hands." 

The  space  enclosed  within  the  limits  of  the  fort  contained  between  six  and 
seven  acres,  including  the  house  and  garden  —  which  overlooked  the  river 
and  the  city  beyond  it.  The  angles  of  the  work  faced  the  cardinal 
points.  The  south-west,  or  main  face  of  the  fort,  overlooked  a  level  field 
nearly  half  a  mile  long,  flanked  at  the  left  side  by  the  road  leading  to 
wards  Fairfax  Court  House,  and  on  the  right  by  a  wooded  ravine  through 
which  ran  a  small  rivulet.  This  ravine  approached  to  within  a  few  yards 
of  the  north-western  angle  of  the  works,  and,  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  was 
covered  with  a  thick  growth  of  scrubby  bushes  —  shoots  from  the  stumps 
of  the  trees  that  had  been  cut  down  when  the  fort  was  erected  —  so  as  to 
afford  no  cover  to  foes  approaching  through  the  ravine. 

I  had  some  general  idea  of  the  main  situation  of  the  fort  and  its  sur 
roundings,  derived  from  information  given  me  by  some  of  those  by  whom 
the  works  were  erec-ted,  and  as  I  slowly  paced  round  the  parapet  and 
recalled  many  of  the  incidents  I  had  heard  from  the  lips  of  those  dear 
friends,  (now,  alas!  silent  for  ever,)  I  imagined  I  c<  old  locate  the  exact 
spots  where  they  transpired.  I  felt  certain  of  the  positi  u  —  outside  the  works 
—  occupied  by  Company  A,  — "  Haggerty's  Bullies!"  (as  they  were  called  — 


REMINISCENCES   OF  FOET  COECORAN.  387 

after  thc-ir  gallant  Captain).  It  was  between  the  north-west  bastion  and 
the  ravine,  and  I  pictured  to  myself  the  scene  of  that  midnight  alarm  on 
the  2d  of  June,  '61,  when  the  bugles  of  the  Fifth,  Twenty-eighth  and  Six 
ty-ninth  New  York  Regiments  sounded  the  '•  officers'  call,"  and  the  drums 
beat  to  arms.  I  imagined  I  saw  the  regiment  swarming  from  the  tents 
and  hastening  to  man  the  ramparts,  their  gallant  Colonel  coolly  directing 
their  movements,  John  O'Mahony —  his  volunteer  Aid  —  mounted  by  his  side, 
Judge  Daly  and  Richard  O'Gorman  on  the  ramparts  with  the  men,  revolvers 
in  hand,  ready  to  take  a  share  in  whatever  turned  up ;  while  John  Sav 
age —  most  practical  of  poets,  wisely  choose  a  more  effective  weapon — the 
old-fashioned  69-calibre  musket  —  whose  load  of  ball-and-buckshot  was  likely 
to  do  most  execution  in  the  dark.  I  could,  in  fancy,  hear  Captain  Haggerty's 
familiar  voice  giving  the  command — "Double  quick!"  as  with  half  his  com 
pany  he  diappeared  in  the  darkness  out  by  the  Fairfax  Court  House  road  — 
in  which  direction  was  heard*  the  firing  that  caused  all  this  commotion. 
They  soon  returned  with  the  information  that  the  alarm  was  caused  by  the 
rebel  pickets  firing  on  the  outposts  of  the  Twenty-eighth  New  York  —  who 
promptly  returned  the  fire. 

While  musing  over  these  reminiscences  of  the  loved  and  lost,  with  a 
sadness  of  heart  in  keeping  with  the  dreariness  ot  the  leadeu-hued  skies, — 
the  mournful  sigh  of  the  evening  wind  through  the  neighboring  thicket, 
and  the  tall,  rank  weeds  that  fringed  the  ramparts,  I  came  upon  an  object 
that  changed  the  current  of  my  thoughts,  and  drew  forth  an  involuntary, 
but  most  emphatic  exclamation!  There,  at  my  feet,  in  one  of  the  embra 
sures  through  which  a  formidable  "  sixty-eight-pouuder "  erewhile  scowled 
defiance  at  the  rebel  foe — lay  a  "figure-of-four  trap"  to  catch  rabbits.  My 
first  impulse  was  to  fl'mg  the  thing  into  the  ditch,  with  an  imprecation  on 
the  pot-hunting  scoundrel  who  selected  that  hero-haunted  spot  as  the  scene 
of  his  tricky  operations.  But  when  I  reflected  that  the  irreverent  offender 
must  be  either  an  "  ignorant  Nigger,"  or,  more  unconscionable  still,  a  "boy,' 
I  merely  turned  away  in  disgust. 

I  hastened  to  where  the  flag-staff  once  stood,  and  secured  a  few  of  its  chips 
from  the  vicinity  of  the  stump  —  together  with  a  rusty  spike-nail  used  in 
fastening  the  halliard-cleat,  which  I  still  have  as  mementoes;  then,  after 
getting  a  drink  of  water  from  the  "well"  dug  by  the  boys  of  the  Sixty- 
ninth,  I  came  sadly  away,  wishing  that,  at  least,  the  old  flag-staff  might 


388  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

be    left   to  keep    its    place    where    brave    men  planted  it,   until  it  succumbed 
to  the  influence  of  Time.* 


CHAPTER  LXI. 


THE   DULL-RUN  CAMPAIGN. 

He  peeks  not  safety,  let  his  post 

Be  where  It  ought  — in  danger.-,  van; 
.Ami  If  thf   fiell  of  fame  be  lost, 

it  won't  Ue  by  an  Irishman. 

jAMtd   ORE. 

FOE  about  six  week?  after  the  comnletion  of  Fort  Corcoran  the 
ninth  rtniaiueu  in  occupation,  drilling  assiduously  by  day,  and  kept  constantly 
on  the  alert  watching  their  wily  and  daring  foe,  by  night.  In  addition  to 
their  own  officers,  ten  West-Point  cadets  were  assigned  to  them  as  military 
instructors,  and  the  men  were,  in  some  measure,  enabled  to  make  up  for 
the  time  spent  in  the  trenches.  During  this  inteival,  also,  several  of  the 
more  intelligent  officers  of  thi  PLcenix  Brigade  —  who  had  gone  out  with 
the  Sixty-ninth  as  u  privuu-s"  —  were  promoted  to  their  proper  position  as 
commissioned  officers,  —  some  of  them  subsequently  rose  to  the  rank  of 
General. 

In  the  beginning  of  July  Archbishop  Hughes,  accompanied  by  Bishop 
Timon  of  Bulfttlo.  visited  the  camp,  and  was  most  enthusiastically  received 
by  the  regiment.  Well  might  they  honor  him,  both  as  a  venerable  digni 
tary  of  their  church  and  as  a  patriot,  whose  services  to  the  Union  cause 
were  unsurpassed  by  those  of  any  other  of  his  fellow-citizens  —  clerical  or 


*In  a  recent  visit  to  the  site  of  Foit  Corcoran  I  found  not  a  vestige  of  the  entrench 
ments—they  were  levelled  and  the  ditch  filled.  Only  the  "  we)),"  and  the  excavation  which 
marked  the  site  of  the  "magazine,"  remain. 


THE  HULL  HUN  CAMPAIUy.  3S9 

lay.  The  week  after  the  Archbishop's  departure,  Father  Mooney,  the  Chap 
lain  of  the  regiment,  also  returned  to  New  York.  But  his  place  was  at 
once  filled  by  the  Ilev.  Father  O'lleilly,  the  eminent  Jesuit — who  has  since 
obtained  well-deserved  celebrity  as  a  wiiter  and  champion  of  Irish  liberty. 

Other  changes  occurred  at  this  time  among  the  field  and  staff  offi 
cers  of  the  regiment.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Nugent  was  disabled  by  an  acci 
dental  fall  from  his  horse,  and  Captain  James  Haggerty  of  Company  UA" 
took  his  place,  and  held  it  until  he  fell  gloriously  at  the  head  of  the  regi 
ment  in  the  advance  on  Bull  Run,  just  one  month  later.  Major  James 
Bagley  being  also  absent  in  New  York  at  this  time,  Captain  Thomas  F. 
Meagher  acted  as  M»jor  up  to  and  after  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  and  in 
that  capacity  commanded  the  regiment  on  its  return  to  Fort  Corcoran. 

On  the  evening  of  the  15th  of  July,  —  the  Sixty-ninth  being  drawn  up 
in  close  column  on  parade.  —  Colonel  Corcoran  read  the  special  order  for 
the  march  into  Virginia  ou  next  day. 

TRAITORS    AND  SPIES  IN  WASHINGTON. 

Washington,  at  that  time,  harbored  many  bitter  enemies  to  the  Union. 
They  permeated  all  ranks  and  classes  of  society,  and  some  of  them  must 
have  been  amongst  the  most  trusted  officials  of  the  Government.  Owing  to 
the  treachery  of  those  concealed  traitors  the  Confederate  leaders  were  kept 
regularly  informed  of  the  plans  and  purposes  of  the  Government,  as  will 
be  seen  from  the  following  statement  of  General  Beauregard,  commander  of 
the  Confederate  forces  at  Bull  Run,  —  taken  from  his  account  of  that  battle 
in  the  Century. 

"Happily,  through  the  foresight  of  Colonel  Thomas  Jordan,  —  whom 
General  Lee  had  placed  as  the  Adjutant-General  of  the  forces  there  assembled 
before  my  arrival  —  arrangements  were  made  which  enabled  me  to  receive 
regularly,  from  private  persons  at  the  Federal  capital,  most  accurate  infor 
mation,  of  which  politicians  high  in  council,  as  well  as  War  Department 
clerks,  were  the  unconscious  (?)  ducts.  Moreover,  my  enterprising,  intelli 
gent  pickets  were  watchfully  kept  in  the  closest  proximity  to  General 
McDowell's  headquarters,  and,  by  a  stroke  of  good  fortune  on  the  fourth  of 
July,  happened  upon  and  captured  a  sergeant  and  soldier  of  the  regulars, 
who  were  leisurely  riding  for  recreation  not  far  outside  their  lines.  The 
soldier,  an  intelligent,  ec  ucat  «1  Scotchman,  proved  to  be  a  clerk  in  the 
Adjutant-General's  oiiice  of  General  McDowell,  intrusted  with  the  special  duty 
01  compiling  returns  of  his  army  —  a  work  which  he  confessed,  without 


390  MEMOIitS   OF  GEX    THOMAS    FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

reluctance,  he  had  just  executed,  showing  the  forces  under  McDowell  about 
the  first  of  July.  His  statement  of  the  composition  and  strength  of  that 
force  tallied  so  closely  with  that  which  had  been  acquired  through  my 
Washington  agencies,  already  mentioned,  as  well  as  through  the  leading 
newspapers  of  New  York  and  Washington,  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore, 
regular  files  of  which  were  also  transmitted  to  my  headquarters  from  the 
Federal  capital,  that  I  could  not  doubt  them." 

Coming  from  such  an  authoritative  source,  these  statements  are  interesting  ev 
idences  of  the  general  prevalence  of  treason  in  the  capital  at  the  period  referred 
to,  but  further  on  in  his  revelations,  General  Beauregard  gives  a  specific 
instance  of  treachery  in  high  quarters  —  which,  in  the  blackness  of  its  crim 
inality  as  well  as  in  the  importance  of  its  consequences,  —  overshadowed  the 
petty  treason  of  eaves-dropping  Department  clerks  and  mercenary  deserters. 

"Just  before  Colonel  Chesnut  was  dispatched  on  the  mission  of  which 
I  have  spoken,  a  former  clerk  in  one  of  the  departments  a't  Washington, 
well  known  to  him,  had  volunteered  to  return  thither  and  bring  back  the 
latest  information,  from  our  most  trusted  friends,  of  the  military  and  polit 
ical  situations.  His  loyaly,  intelligence,  and  desire  to  be  of  service  being 
vouched  for,  and  as  I  was  extremely  solicitous  to  hear  the  personal  obser 
vations  of  so  intelligent  a  gentleman  as  he  was  represented  to  be,  he  was 
at  once  sent  across  the  Potomac  below  Alexandria  by  our  agencies  in  that 
quarter,  merely  accredi;ed  by  a  small  scrap  of  paper  bearing  in  Colonel 
Jordan's  cipher  the  two  words,  '  Trust  bearer,'  with  which  he  was  to  call 
at  a  certain  house  in  a  certain  street  in  Washington  within  easy  rifle-range 
of  the  White  House,  ask  for  the  lady  of  the  house,  and  present  it  only  to 
her. 

"  This  delicate  mission  was  as  fortunately    as  it  was  deftly  executed. 

"  In  the  early  morning,  as  the  newsbovs  were  crying  in  the  as  yet 
empty  streets  of  Washington,  the  intelligence  that  the  order  was  given 
for  the  Federal  army  to  move  at  once  upon  my  position^:1)  that  scrap  of 
paper,  apparently  so  unmeaning,  reached  the  hands  of  the  one  person  in 
all  that  city  who  could  extract  any  meaning  from  it.  With  no  more  delay 
than  was  necessary  for  a  hurried  breakfast,  and  the  writing  in  cipher  by 

Mrs.  G of  the  words,  l  Or  Her  issued  for  McDowell  to  march  upon  Man- 

assas  to-night,"  my  agent  was  placed  in  communication  with  another  friend, 
who  carried  him  in  a  buggy  with  a  relay  of  horses  as  swiftly  as  possible 
down  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Potomac  to  our  regular  ferry  across  that 
river. 

u  Without  untoward    incident  the  momentous  dispatch  was  quickly  deliv- 


THE  BULL  HUN  CAMPAIGN.  391 

er>  d  into  the  hands  of  a  cavalry  courier,  and  by  means  of  relays,  it  was  in 
my  hands  between  eight  and  nine  o'clock  that  night.  Within  half  an  hour 
my  outpost  commanders,  advised  of  what  was  impending,  were  directed,  at 
the  first  evidence  of  the  near  presence  of  the  enemy  in  their  front,  to  fall 
back  in  the  maner,  and  to  positions  already  prescribed  in  anticipation  of 
such  a  contingency,  in  an  order  confidentially  communicated  to  them  four 
weeks  before,  and  the  detachment  at  Leesburg  was  directed  to  join  me  by 
forced  marches."  * 

Who    was    this    "Mrs.    G ,"    the  confidential  spy  of  the  Confederates, 

and  who  was  the  official  in  high  quarters  who  gave  her  the  important  infor 
mation  which  resulted  so  disastrously  to  the  Union  army?  —  are  questions 
that  are  still  unanswered. 

THE  SIXTY-NINTH  IN  ADVANCE. 

The    most    graphic    and    interesting    account    of    the    experiences    of    the 
Sixty-uiuth  after  leaving   Fort   Corcoran,  is  that  furnished  by  THOMAS   FRAN-    . 
Cis    MEAGHER,   in    his  narrative  entitled   "THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  69TH  IN 
VIRGINIA,"  from   which   the  following  extracts  are  selected:  — 

"ADVANCE  ON  FAIRFAX  COURT  HOUSE.  —  FIRST  SIGHT  OF  THE  ENEMY. 

"  It  was  fully  10  o'clock,  on  the  morning  of  the  17th  of  July,  when 
the  69th  came  in  sight  of  Fairfax  Court  House,  the  road  along  which  the 
regiment  passed  being  obstructed,  every  half  mile  almost,  with  enormous 
heaps  of  fallen  trees,  which  the  Confederates  had  levelled  and  massed  toge 
ther,  and  which  had  to  be  cut  through  by  our  axe-men,  before  the  slightest 
progress  could  be  made.  In  this  rough  and  dangerous  pioneering,  the  Engi 
neers  of  the  69th,  under  the  command  of  their  high-spirited  young  Captain, 
did  quick  and  clear  work,  splendidly  maintaining  their  character  with  the 
regiment  for  usefulness,  promptitude  and  boldness. 

"Arriving  in  sight  of  Fairfax  Court  House,  and  within  easy  cannon-shot 
of  it,  the  69th,  leaving  the  Ohio  and  other  regiments  drawn  up  in  line  of 
battle  along  the  road,  striking  off  at  right-angles  to  the  left  of  the  main  line 
of  march,  passed  on  so  as  to  flank  the  village  and  cut  off  the  retreat  of 
the  Confederates. 

"  Proceeding    in    the    execution    of    this    movement,   we  came  in   sight  of 

*"The  Battle  of  Bull  Run,  by  General   Beauregard-"    The   CENTURY,  November,  1884 


392  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

a  portion  of  the  enemy,  apparently  from  one  thousand  to  one  thousand  five 
hundred  strong,  drawn  up  in  line  of  battle  outside  the  village  in  a  field, 
directly  fronting  our  line  of  march.  The  order  to  halt  was  promptly  given, 
the  right  wing  of  the  69th  was  thrown  into  the  fields  to  the  left,  and  unit 
ing  there  with  the  2d  New  York — as  vigorous  and  spirited  a  body  of  men 
as  any  one  would  wish  to  see  —  moved  rapidly  down  upon  the  enemy. 

"  As  they  neared  him,  however,  he  retreated  into  the  village,  and  then 
out  of  it  towards  Centreville,  leaving  it  to  be  peacefully  entered,  a  short 
time  after,  by  the  forces  from  Arlington  Heights,  and  the  encampments 
between  that  and  Alexandria  and  beyond  it." 

IN  GERMANTOWN. — AN  ACT  OF  VANDALISM  IN  BRITISH  STYLE. 

"  At  12  o'clock  the  Green  Fiag  was  planted  upon  the  deserted  ramparts 
of  the  Confederates  at  Germantowu;  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were  lifted  oppo 
site  to  it,  at  a  distance  of  fifteen  paces,  and  between  the  two  beautiful  and 
inspiring  symbols  —  the  one  of  their  old  home  and  the  other  of  their  new 
country  —  the  G9th  passed  in  triumph,  hats  and -caps  waving  on  the  bayonet 
points,  and  an  Irish  cheer,  such  as  never  before  shook  the  woods  of  old 
Virginia,  swelling  and  rolling  far  and  wide  into  the  gleaming  air. 

"Defiling  through  the  deserted  earth-works  at  Germantown,  our  Brigade 
bore  off  to  the  left,  taking  position  in  line  of  battle  in  the  open  fields 
spreading  northward  from  the  village.  Skirmishers  were  thrown  forward, 
and  the  village  also  being  found  deserted,  the  march  was  renewed,  the  posi 
tion  of  the  regiments  being  altered  —  the  First  Wisconsin  taking  the  right, 
and  the  69th  bringing  up  the  rear  of  the  Brigade. 

'•  Over  the  streaming  bayonets,  through  the  swaying  colors  and  the 
clouds  of  dust  rolling  densely  upwards  from  the  trampled  earth,  riding  at 
the  head  of  the  69 ih  beside  our  Colonel,  I  saw  the  handful  of  little  wooden 
houses,  known  as  Germautown,  rise  up  and  dilate  before  us.  One  house, 
however,  particularly  struck  me,  even  at  that  distance,  and  notwithstanding 
the  dust,  confusion  and  tumult  through  which  I  noticed  it,  —  a  two-storied 
house,  well  proportioned,  —  with  a  white,  cheerful  face;  roses  and  wood 
bine,  as  I  took  them  to  be,  coiling  and  clustering  about  the  trellissed  porch; 
young  ornamental  trees  in  front  of  it;  a  clear  and  handsome  feature  in  the 
clouded  picture  against  which  we  were  moving  —  it  was  the  first  pleasant 
object,  of  the  quieter  and  friendlier  order  of  things,  we  had  fallen  in  with 
since  we  pushed  on  that  morning  from  Vienna. 

u  '  That  house  is  on  fireS  Father  O'Reilly,  the  Chaplain,  hurriedly  observed, 
as  he  whipped  his  horse  up  beside  the  Coloiiei. 


THE  DULL   ±iUy  CAMPAIGN".  393 

1 . — _ 

"The  words  had  scarcely  fallen  from  his  lips  when  a  round  mass  of 
black  smoke  rolled  out  of  the  windows  of  the  house  and  buried  it  in  dark 
ness.  In  another  moment,  the  red  flames  were  leaping  through  the  smoke, 
and  the  crackling  of  timbers,  pierced  and  rifted  with  the  fire,  was  heard 
distinctly  above  the  tramp  and  tumult  of  the  march.  The  only  ornament 
of  the  village,  in  hot  haste  and  fury,  was  plunging  into  ashes.  In  half  an 
hour  it  would  be,  at  best,  a  heap  of  smouldering  charcoal. 

"  Whose  was  the  scurvy  and  malignant  hand  that  fired  the  deserted 
homestead?  It  is  for  the  regiments  of  the  Brigade,  in  advance  of  the  G9th 
to  answer.  With  them  rests  the  responsibility  of  this  savage  riotousness 
and  mischief.  The  house  was  doomed  irrevocably  when  the  69th  came  up. 
The  Irish  regiment  swept  by  the  blazing  ruin,  cursing  the  ruffians  who  had 
played  the  barbarous  prank,  and  maddened  with  the  thought  of  the  disgrace 
it  would  bring  on  the  Federal  Flag." 

UNDER  FIRE. 

"A  shout,  hearty  and  prolonged,  soon  told  us  that  Centreville,  also, 
had  been  evacuated.  The  huts,  cresting  the  rising  ground  on  the  left,  were 
stripped  to  the  very  leaves  and  branches  of  which  they  had  been  built. 
The  redoubt  between  the  house  and  the  road  was  emptied  too,  nothing  fall 
ing  into  the  possession  of  the  Federal  troops  but  a  few  ammunition 
boxes.  It  was  a  clean  sweep  the  Confederates  made,  as  they  fell  back, 
abandoning  position  after  position,  until  they  fiercely  stood  their  ground  in 
that  fatal  labyrinth,  bristling,  four  miles  ahead,  between  us  and  Manassas. 
Ic  was  there  they  wanted  us;  and  their  abandoned  positions  at  Vienna,  at 
Fairfax,  at  Germantown,  at  Centreville  —  wherever  they  had  been  grouped 
between  Bull  Run  and  Falls  Church,  up  to  the  evening  of  our  advance,  — 
were  but  so  many  artifices,  elaborately  arranged  along  our  line  of  march, 
to  entice'  us  headlong,  breathless  aud  breadless  almost,  to  destruction. 

"  At  noon  on  the  ISth  of  July,  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were  flying  over 
Centreviile.  The  regiments  under  Colonel  Keyes,  accompanied  by  Brigadier- 
General  Tyler,  moved  down  the  southern  slope  of  the  hill  already  mentioned, 
and  disappeared.  Sherman's  Brigade  broke  into  the  fields  to  the  right  of 
where  we  halted  on  the  road  —  arms  were  stacked  —  haversacks  and  can 
teens  were  brought  into  play  —  and  the  sore-footed  volunteers,  their  blan 
kets  spread  above  them  on  rails  and  muskets,  so  a?  to  shade  them  some 
what,  enjoyed  a  lunch  of  biscuit  and  hot  water,  and  four  hours'  repose. 

"Little    they    seemed    to    heed    the    cannon    which,    at    long    intervals,  — 


394  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEB. 

intervals  of  from  ten  to  twenty  minutes  —  when  it  first  began  to  boom,  off 
there  in  the  hazy  woods  below,  —  told  them  that  the  enemy  was  found  at 
last.  One  might  have  thought  that  every  man  of  the  69th  had  been  a  har 
dened  and  callous  veteran,  so  coolly,  so  indifferently,  so  lazily  did  they 
take  those  dread  intimations  that  death  had  commenced  his  havoc  amid  the 
lightnings,  and  with  all  the  pomp  of  war. 

''The  fact  is  —  what  with  constant  alarms  at  Fort  Corcoran,  forced 
marches  and  precipitate  expeditions  two  or  three  times  a  week  —  being  under 
arms  upon  the  ramparts  every  second'  night  or  so,  lying  in  ambuscade  at  the 
Alexandria  and  Loudou  railway  from  midnight  until  dawn,  and  undergoing 
all  the  hnrdships,  violences,  and  most  of  the  shocks  of  war,  the  men  of 
the  69th  had  become  familiarized  by  anticipation  and  analogy  with  the  scene 
which,  at  that  moment,  was  being  played  out  with  such  terrible  effect  amid 
the  beautiful  green  trees  of  Virginia,  and  on  one  of  the  oldest  high-roads 
to  her  capital.  Hence  the  strange  coolness  with  which  they  heard  those  bel- 
lowings  of  the  conflict,  awaiting  the  summons  that  would  fling  them  into 
its  lierce  currents,  and  whirl  their  banner  into  the  blackest  and  wildest 
eddies  of  the  storm. 

"  At  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  that  summons  came.  Sherman's  Brigade 
was  ordered  up  to  relieve  the  regiments  that  had  been  uudei  tire  for  live 
hours  and  more.  The  69th  led  the  way,  and,  as  they  hurried  up  the  hill, 
the  elasticity  and  enthusiasm  of  tbeir  race  seemed  to  pervade  them  thor 
oughly.  Of  those  thousand  men,  sweeping  on  to  battle,  through  choking 
clouds  of  dust,  and  under  that  smiting  sun,  there  was  not  one  but  carried 
himself  right  gallantly  —  not  one  who  did  not  feel  that  the  honor  of  his 
race  and  of  its  military  character  was  staked  that  hour  upon  the  conduct 
of  the  69th;  and  who.  feeling  this,  and  lifting  his  eye  in  rapture  to  the 
Green  Flag  as  it  danced  above  the  rushing  column,  did  not  swear  to  meet 
the  thrusts  of  battle  with  a  fearless  heart. 

"An  hour's  rushing  —  for  the  marching  of  the  69th  to  Bull  Run  that 
evening  cannot  otherwise  be  described  —  brought  the  regiment  to  the  brow 
of  the  hill  descending  into  the  little  meadow,  where  the  Federal  troops, 
regiment  after  regiment,  had  faced  and  stood  a  tempestous  fire  from  batte 
ries  of  rifled  cannon  —  masked  as  well  as  naked  batteries  —  the  fire  of  rifle- 
pits —  a  downright  torrent  and  whirlwind  of  balls  and  shot,  all  of  the 
deadliest  cunning  and  ripest  pattern. 

"And  here  they  encountered  several  of  the  12th  Regiment  of  New  York 
Volunteers  hurrying  from  the  bloody  arena  in  the  woods  below,  some  of 


THE   HULL   RUN  CAMPAIGN.  395 

them  dragging  dead  or  bleeding  comrades  along  with  them,  others  with 
bandaged  heads  or  legs  or  arms,  staggering  through  the  dust  and  the  venge 
ful  siorm  from  the  rifled  cannon  which  still  pursued  them.  Here,  too,  they 
met  the  13th  of  Rochester  on  its  retreat,  this  fine  young  regiment  having 
stood  its  ground  until  broken  and  overpowered. 

"  Seeing  a  body  of  men  making  through  the  woods  from  where  the 
murderous  hail  was  pouring  in  upon  them  thick  and  sharp  and  fast,  and 
taking  them  to  be  the  Southerners  in  pursuit  of  the  12th  New  York,  the 
boys  of  the  G9th  instinctively  brought  their  bayouets  to  the  charge,  and 
were  on  the  point  of  plunging  upon  the  13th,  when  Captain  Haggerty  dashed 
along  the  line  ar.d  struck  the  bayonets  upwards  with  his  sword.  It  was 
the  bold  act  of  a  cool,  strong,  decisive  brain,  and  in  an  instant  it  stayed 
the  COth  with  an  iron  hand,  as  it  were,  and  held  it  in  a  masterly  suspense. 

"  The  next  moment  we  were  ordered  to  lie  down  in  double  file,  in  the 
wood  overlooking  the  field  of  battle,  with  our  faces  and  muskets  to  the 
road,  aud  in  that  position,  keeping  perfectly  silent  and  collected,  to  await 
further  orders.  For  more  than  three  quarters  of  an  hour  did  the  regiment 
keep  its  position  there  —  without  a  word  from  the  ranks  —  without  a  breath 
almost  —  whilst  shot  and  shell,  and  every  sort  of  hellish  missile,  swept  aud 
tore,  whizzed  and  jarred,  smashed  and  plunged  through  the  trees  all  about, 
and  close  to  us  overhead,  in  hurtling  aud  deafening  showers  on  either  flank. 
in  front  and  rear. 

"  While  we  lay  under  that  torrent  and  hurricane  of  round  shot,  spher 
ical  ball,  shell  and  canister,  whilst  we  patiently  submitted  to  this  butcherly 
rain,  Captain  Haggerty  stood  upon  our  extreme  right,  contemplating  with 
undisguised  satisfaction,  the  perfect  coolness  and  subordination  of  the  men, 
the  Colonel  taking  it  just  as  coolly  Hi  the  centre  as  though  he  had  been 
dictating  some  unimportant  order  in  his  marquee  at  Fort  Corcoran,  with  a 
pitcher  of  ice-water  close  at  hand. 

''Between  six  and  seven  o'clock,  General  McDowell  came  upon  the  ground 
with  a  brilliant  escort,  including  the  young  Governor  Spiague  of  Rhode 
Island,  and  he,  comprehending  at  a  glance  the  situatio*  of  affairs,  the  sheer 
deadliness  of  the  conflict,  and  the  utter  fatuity  of  attacking'  the  hidden 
enemy  in  his  lair,  ordeied  the  69th  to  return  to  the  hill  overlooking  the 
little  village  of  Centreville,  aud  there  await  further  orders,  which  would 
be  forthwith  issued." 

(Owing  to  the  lack  of  rations,  and  the  necessity  for  information.  General 
McDowell  was  detained  at  Ceutieville  tor  the  next  two  days,  spending  the 


SIC  MEMOIRS    OF  GEN.   THOMAS  fBAXClS  MEAGHER. 

time  in  rcconnoissances.  This  delay  was  of  considerable  advantage  to  his 
opponent,  for.  meanwhile  General  Johnson  joined  him  with  six  thousand 
men  and  twenty  guns  from  the  Shenanc.oah  Valley,  and  General  Holmes 
with  one  thousand  three  hundred  men  and  six  guns  from  Acquia  Creek). 

MEAGIIER'S  NARRATIVE    CONTINUED.  —  How  IRISH  SOLDIERS  PREPARED 

FOR  BATTLE. 

"Were  it  not  for  the  visit  of  Father  Scully,  the  young  and  devoted 
Chaplain  of  Colonel  Cass's  Irish  Regiment,  from  Boston,  who,  having  heard 
of  Thursday's  lighting,  dashed  across  from  Washington,  over  five-and-thirty 
miles,  to  see  ani  learn  all  about  us,  Saturday,  despite  of  the  glaring  sun 
shine,  would  have  been  a  gloomy  day  indeed.  His  hearty  words  and  pres 
ence  lit  up  afresh  the  life  and  fire  of  the  69th;  and  he  came  in  good  time, 
and  most  kindly  staid  long  enough  to  relieve  our  own  beloved  Chaplain.  Father 
O'Reilly  at  the  confessional.  There  were  few  of  the  (>9th  who  failed  to  con 
fess  and  ask  forgiveness  on  that  day.  Every  one,  officers  as  well  as  pri 
vates,  prepared  for  death.  Sincerely  and  devoutly  they  made  their  peace 
with  God.  This  is  the  secret  of  their  courage,  and  the  high,  bright  spirit 
with  which  they  bore  all  the  hardships,  the  privations,  the  terrors,  and  the 
chastisement  of  the  battle. 

"It  was.  in  truth,  an  affecting  sight  —  that  of  strong,  stalwart,  rugged 
men  —  all  upon  their  knees,  all  with  heads  uncovered,  all  with  hands  clasped 
in  prayer  and  eyes  cast  down,  approaching,  one  by  one.  the  good,  dear 
priest,  who,  seated  at  the  foot  of  an  old  bare  tree,  against  which  some  of 
our  boys  h;>d  spread  for  him  an  awning  of  green  branches,  heard  the  con 
fessions  of  the  poor  fellows,  and  bid  them  be  at  ease  and  fearless.  Long 
as  I  live,  I  shall  never  forget  that  scene.  It  was  not  less  impressive  than 
that  of  Father  O'Reilly's  passing  along  our  line,  as  we  knelt  within  range 
of  the  enemy's  batteries  on  one  knee,  with  bayonets  fixed,  expecting  every 
instant  to  be  swept  upon,  and  the  final  benediction  was  imparted. 

"  Father  O'Reilly  has  told  me  since,  that  the  earnestness  and  devotion 
with  which  poor  Haggerty  received  that  benediction,  singularly  struck  him, 
and  that  the  attitude  and  expression  of  this  truly  honest  and  heroic  soldier, 
at  that  solemn  moment  could  never  leave  his  memory." 

Meagher  concludes  his  narrative  with  the  following  observations  on  the 
battle  of  Bull  Run,  and  the  subsequent  retreat  of  the  GOth  to  Fort  Cor 
coran  :  — 


THE  BULL  EUN  CAMPAIGN.  307 

"Of  subsequent  incidents  and  events,  the  world,  by  this  time,  has  heard 
enough.  Concerning  the  advance  from  Centreville,  the  battle,  the  retreat, 
the  aiarra  and  confusion  of  the  Federal  troops,  columns  and  volumes  have 
been  filled.  I  can  add  noihing  to  the  history  of  the  day  but  my  testimony, 
that  wherever  the  Federal  troops  had  a  fair  chance  —  wherever,  indeed,  they 
had  the  slightest  opening  even  —  there  and  then  they  whipped  the  Confed 
erate  forces,  utterly  overwhelmed  and  confounded  them.  In  every  instance 
where  the  Federal  infantry  came  in  contact  with  that  of  the  seceding  States, 
did  this  occur.  In  no  one  instance,  not  for  a  second,  did  it  happen  that 
the  Federal  forces  were  driven  back  by,  or  received  the  slightest  check 
from,  the  Southern  Infantry.  We  yielded  to  their  batteries,  and  despite  of 
every  effort  and  determination  were  compelled  to  do  so.  It  was  impossible 
for  men  to  override  that  tempest.  Three  times  did  the  69th  launch  itself 
against  it.  Three  times,  having  plunged  head-foremost  into  its  deadliest 
showers,  was  it  hurled  back.  We  beat  their  incu — their  batteries  beat  us. 
That  is  the  story  of  the  day. 

"Repulsed  the  last  time  from  the  enemy's  works,  following  the  regi 
ment  as  it  was  fiercely  driven  out,  I  was  knocked  head  over  heels,  and 
fell  senseless  on  the  field.  A  private  of  the  United  States  Cavalry,  gallop 
ing  by.  grasped  me  by  the  back  of  the  neck,  jerked  me  across  his  saddle, 
and  carried  me  a  few  hundred  yards  beyond  the  range  of  the  batteries." 

[XoxE.  —  In  reference  to  the  gallant  soldier  who  rescued  Meagher  from 
his  perilous  position  on  the  above  occasion,  the  annexed  interesting  letter 
was  written  at  the  time.  It  is  fitting  that  his  fame  should  be  commemo 
rated  in  comection  with  that  of  the  hero  whose  life  he  saved,  and  on  whose 
stall'  he  subsequently  served  in  the  Irish  Brigade.  I  am  happy  to  state  that 
Captain  McCoy  is  still  living  in  Washington,  —  where  he  holds  an  important 
clerical  position  in  the  Adjutant-General's  oflice. 

"WASHINGTON,    D.    C.,    Aug.    20th,     1861. 

*•  To  the  E-Jitor  of  the.   Irish-American: 

"The  young  hero  who  so  daringly  rescued  Capt.  Thomas  F.  Meagher, 
in  the  very  face  of  the  enemy,  at  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  was  Joseph  P. 
McCoy,  of  Co.  "  B,"  2d  U.  S.  Cavalry,  (formerly  a  student  of  St.  Francis 
Xavier's  College,  in  your  city).  It  is,  therefore,  needless  to  remark  that  he 
is  as  accomplished  as  brave.  *****  From  this  brave  young  man  1  have 
elicited  the  following  circumstances  connected  therewith,  i.  e.,  that  after 
the  heroic  G9th  (as  he  styled  them,)  were  repulsed  for  the  third  and  last 
time,  the  cavalry  were  ordered  to  move  towards  the  road  leading  to  Cen- 


398  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

treville.  in  order  to  hurry  on  the  stragglers,  and,  on  the  heights  above  the 
Stone  Bridge,  to  make  a  stand  with  Ayres'  Battery,  and  the  2d  U.  S.  In 
fantry  to  cover  the  retreat.  The  moment  the  order  was  given,  it  was  put 
in  execution.  It  seems,  however,  that  instantaneously  with  the  word  of 
command,  McCoy  saw  Capt.  Meagher  on  the  grouird,  within  a  couple  hun 
dred  yards  of  the  enemy's  batteries.  One  look  was  sufficient  —  to  break 
from  his  companions  was  but  the  work  of  an  instant.  He  would  rescue 
the  gallant  Captain,  or  perish  in  the  attempt.  It  is  needless  to  remark  how 
ably  it  was  done.  *  *  One  incident  only  remains  to  be  added  to  show  the 
real  worth  of  the  young  hero.  He  informed  me  privately  that  he  had  not 
eaten  a  morsel  since  2  o'clock  that  morning  (the  time  of  the  retreat  being 
about  5  P.  M.,)  save  a  piece  of  cracker  and  a  little  water,  and  that  for  three 
days  his  horse  had  had  but  one  substantial  meal  (six  EARS  OF  CORN)  ;  that 
he  himself  was  so  weak,  that  he  expected  every  moment  to  be  precipitated 
from  the  saddle  by  the  weight  of  Capt.  Meagher,  whose  exhaustion  was  so 
great  that  he  was  barely  able  to  retain  his  hold  on  his  young  ally.  Over 
hills  and  ravines  McCoy  rode  with  his  charge,  util  he  reached  a  place  of 
safety,  and  joined  his  company ;  when  tenderly  assisting  him  to  dismount,  he 
coupled  the  action  with  the  words,  ;  Captain.,  were  I  a  Volunteer,  this  horse  should 
be  yours,  but  being  a  Regular,  it  is,  I  regret,  impossible.'1  [These  words  I 
have  from  several  members  of  his  Company,  who  all  knew  and  instantly 
recognized  Thomas  F.  Meagher.]  Justice  to  the  young  hero,  as  well  as  the 
champion  of  '48,  compels  me  to  disclose  to  the  public  what  was  given  to  me 
alone  as  a  mere  anecdote  of  the  war. 

"I  am  very  respectfully  yours, 

"  CHAS.    H.  NORBURY."] 

"  When  I  got  upon  my  feet.  I  found  mj-self  in  a  group  of  Fire  Zouaves 
and  a  number  of  the  8th  and  71st,  New  York,  who  very  quietly,  without 
the  least  flurry  or  trepidation,  were  retracing  their  steps  to  the  camping 
ground  at  Centreville.  I  walked  with  them  until  an  artillery  wagon  came 
up,  when,  from  that  out,  until  we  came  to  the  stream  which  crosses  the  road 
between  Centreville  and  the  field  of  battle  —  half-way  between  these  tw  o 
points  —  I  had  as  hard  a  jolting  as  any  one  could  well  endure.  Here  I  was 
pitched  into  the  water,  one  of  the  horses  of  the  wagon  being  shot  by  the 
Black  Horse  Cavalry  which  dashed  upon  us  from  the  woods  on  our  left,  and 
the  wagon  tumbling  over.  Here,  too,  it  was  that  the  panic  took  place. 
Up  to  this  point,  there  was  no  fright,  no  alarm,  no  confusion,  not  the 
least  apparent  uneasiness. 

"These    fragments    of    regiments    were    coolly    and    steadily   returning    to 


THE  BULL  RUN  CAMPAIGN.  399 

the  fields  from  which  they  had  set  out  —  as  coolly  and  unconcernedly  as 
though  they  were  strolling  along  the  Bloomingdale  road  of  a  Sunday  even 
ing  in  the  Fall  —  when,  all  of  a  sudden,  down  came  Commissariat  wagons, 
ambulances,  hospital  carts,  artillery  forges,  and  every  description  of  vehicle, 
dashing  and  smashing  e'ach  other,  and  with  one  fearful  wreck  blocking  up 
the  river. 

"  A  few  yards  off.  there  were  two  or  three  hundred  of  the  Black  Horse 
sweeping  into  us  with  their  carbines.  But  for  a  couple  of  guns  of  Ayres' 
battery,  which,  dashing  up  Irom  the  crowd,  were  thrown  with  the  quick 
ness  of  lightning  into  position,  and  which  flung  on  the  enemy  a  torrent  of 
cannister,  there  would,  I  believe,  have  been  a  terrible  havoc  wrought  at 
that  bridge  and  ford.  As  it  was,  the  only  disgraceful  episode  of  the  battle 
was  written  there. 

"Struggling  through  the  river,  however,  I  fell  in  again  with  the  throng 
of  retreating  soldiers,  and  soon  after  reached  the  field  where  we  had 
encamped  the  three  previous  nights.  Here  I  found  Dr.  Smith  and  about 
fitry  of  the  69th.  Learning  that  three  or  four  hundred  of  the  regiment 
were  on  the  road  to  Fairfax,  I  hurried  after  them,  to  ascertain  their  inten 
tions,  Dr.  Smith  having  insisted  on  my  taking  his  horse  for  the  purpose. 
They  were  bound  for  Fort  Corcoran  —  the  Colonel,  wounded  and  exhausted, 
had  passed  ahead  in  an  ambulance*  —  Colonel  Sherman  had  told  them  so  — 
and  wherever  the  Colonel  of  the  69th  was,  there  the  69th  should  be. 

"At  3  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  221  of  Julv,  weary  and  worn, 
famished  and  naked  almost,  the  69th  passed  through  the  familiar  gates  of 
their  old  quarters,  ana  after  a  battle  which  had  lasted  for  eight  hours  and 
more,  and  a  march  of  five  and  thirty  miles,  laid  themselves  down  to  sleep.1' 

With  the  modesty  characteristic  of  the  truly  brave,  Meagher  is  silent  as 
to  his  own  share  of  the  credit  accorded  by  friend  and  foe  to  his  gallant 
regiment  for  their  conduct  at  Bull  Kun.f  His  brother  officers,  however, 


*This  was  a  mistake;  Colonel  Corcoran  was  then  a  prisoner. 

t  The  Memphis  Argus,  In    commenting  on  the  battle,  said:  — 

'•No  Southerner  but  feels  that  the  Sixty-ninth  maintained  the  old  reputation  of  Irish 
ralor, —  on  the  wrong  side  through  mlsguiuance,  not  through  treachery  to  the  old  cause; 
and  not  one  of  us  but  feels  that  the  day  must  come  when  a  true  understanding  of  ihe 
principles  at  Issue  will  rjuge  thtir  fearless  hearts  in  line  with  their  brethren  of  the 
South," 

On  the  Union  side,  President  Lincoln  and  the  veteran,  General  Wlnfleld  Scott,  bestowed 
the  highest  encomiums  on  them;  and  Ju  ige  Holt,  oi  Kentucky,  in  an  address  which  he 


400  MEMOIRS    OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

were  not  so  reticent  in  his  regard.  They  have  placed  upon  record  their 
testimony  as  to  hit  services  on  that  eventful  day,  in  the  annexed  card  — 
which  they  published  to  confute  some  equivocal  inuendoes  concerning1  him, 
made  by  that  malignant  traducer  of  his  race  —  Russell —  the  notorious  cor 
respondent  of  the  London  Times  :  — 

"Allusions  to  Capt.  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  in  one  or  two  of  the 
more  recent  letters  of  Mr.  Rus*ell  to  the  London  Times,  seeming  to  imply 
that,  at  and  immediately  after  the  battle  of  Bull  Bun  he  was  wanting  in  his 
duty,  and  did  not  exhibit  the  steadiness  and  bravery  for  which  the  Amer 
ican  public  have  given  him  credit,  we,  the  undersigned,  officers  of  the  Sixty- 
ninth,  present  at  the  battle  of  Bull  Run.  consider  it  due  to  Captain  Meagher 
emphatically  to  stare  that  no  officer  or  soldier  could  have  borne  himself  more 
gallantly,  nor  with  more  perfect  coolness  and  intrepidity,  than  he  did  all 
through  the  labors  and  terrors  of  that  battle. 

;' Acting  as  Major  of  the  regiment,  and  special  aid  to  Colonel  Corcoran, 
hi?  exertions  were  incessant  throughout  the  day  —  now  delivering  orders  — 
anorher  time  encouraging  the  men  —  hastening  up  stragglers  on  the  march 
—  keeping  the  men  compact  and  silent  in  the  ranks  —  doing  everything  an 
officer  could  do  to  excite  the  ardor  and  insure  the  efficiency  of  the  regi 
ment.  Riding  coolly  and  deliberately  along  the  line,  in  front  of  the  enemy's 
batteries,  from  which  a  tempest  of  ball  and  shell  swept  the  field,  whilst  in 
the  act  of  delivering  the  Colonel's  order  to  prepare  to  charge,  Captain 
Meagher's  horse  was  torn  to  pieces  by  a  cannon  shot.  From  that  out  he 
took  his  place  with  his  company  of  Zouaves  on  foot,  advanced  upon  the 
enemy's  batteries,  cheered  and  inspired  the  men  as  they  rushed  upon  the 
works,  and  in  the  face  of  the  deadliest  fire,  with  his  head  uncovered,  stood 
his  ground,  waved  his  sword,  rallied  the  Sixty-ninth  in  the  name  of  Ire 
land,  when  the  regiment  was  twice  repulsed,  and  was  among  the  last,  if 
he  himself  was  not  the  very  last,  to  leave  the  fatal  spot  where  so  many 
of  his  honest-hearted  countrymen  were  slain. 

"In  the  confusion  which  followed  the  final  repulse  from  the  batteries, 
and  in  the  smoke  and  uproar  of  the  batteries,  we  lost  sight  of  Captain 
Meagher,  and  he  of  us. 


delivered  to  the  Kentucky   Volunteers,   held    them    up    as    a    bright   example   in  the  follow 
Ing   words:  — 

"  I,eonida8  himself,  while  suiveyln?  the  Persian  host  that,  like  a  troubled  sea,  ewept 
onwarl  to  the  pass  where  he  s-too  i,  wouM  have  been  proud  of  the  leadership  of  uueh 
men." 


THE  BILL  ItUX  (.'AMI'AIUX.  401 

u"We  did  not  see  him  again  until  he  came  up.  a  mile  or  so  beyond 
the  village  of  Centrtville,  to  the  main  body  of  the  regiment,  which,  in  good 
order,  was  on  its  return  to  Fort  Corcoran,  it  having  been  reported  to  the 
officers  by  Brigadier  Sherman  that  Colonel  Corcoran  had  gone  on  there  in 
an  ambulance,  being  badly  wounded.  Yielding  to  the  unanimous  request  of 
both  officers  and  men.  Captain  Member  took  command  of  the  regiment  at 
this  juncture,  and  brought  it  back  sttadily  to  Fort  Corcoran,  where  it 
arrived  a  little  after  three  o'clock  the  morning  after  the  battle,  after  an 
uninterrupted  march  of  thirty  miles. 

'•In  conclusion,  we  take  the  heartiest  satisfaction  in  bearing  witness  — 
once  for  all,  against  all  insinuations  or  assertions  to  the  contrary,  and  from 
whatever  source  they  come  —  to  the  exemplary  and  chivalrous  conduct  of 
Captain  Thomas  Francis  Meagher  upon  every  occasion  since  he  attached 
himself  to  the  Sixty-ninth.  In  the  camp  no  <  iHcer  was  more  diligent,  active 
and  indefatigable  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties;  on  the  march  no  one  was 
more  eager  in  battle ;  none  more  reckless  of  his  life. 

JAMES   KELLY.              .  .  .  Captain   company  H. 

JAMES   CAVANAGH,      .  .  .  Captain   company   C. 

PATRICK  KELLY.          .  .  .  Captain   company  E. 

THOMAS    CLARKE,        .  .  .  Captain  company   D. 

JOHN   BRESLIN,             .  .  .  Captain   company   F. 

A\M.    BUTLER,    ....  Lieutenant   company   I. 

JOHN   COONAN,              .  .  .  Lieutenant   company    1. 

THEODORE  KELLY,       .  .  .  Lieutenant  company  A. 

"\VM.    M.    GILES,            .  .  .  Lieutenant   company  B. 

Ei>.    K.   BUTLER,           .  .  .  Lieutenant   company  K. 

JAMES   QUINLAN,          .  .  .  Captain   Engineers. 

DANIEL   STRAIN,           .  .  .  Lieutenant   company  A. 

D.   L.    SULLIVAN,         .  .  .  Lieutenant  company  A. 

THOMAS  LIDDY.            .  .  .  Lieutenant   company  B. 

LAURENCE    CAIIILL,     .  .  .  Lieutenant  company  B. 

JAMES   ^MITII.  ....  Lieutenant   company  C. 

JASPER   M.    "WHITTY,  .  .  .  Lieutenant   company  C. 

RICHARD   DALTON.       .  .  .  Lieutenant  company  D. 

MICHAEL  O'Bovi.E,      .  .  .  Lieutenant   company  D. 

\VM.    S.   McMAXUS,      .  .  .  Lieutenant   company  E. 

PATRICK   DUFFY,          .  .  .  Lieutenant  company  F. 

JOHN  A.   NUGENT,       .  .  .  Lieutenant  company  F. 

HENRY    J.    MCMAHON,  .  .  Lieutenant  company  G. 


402  MEMOIRS   0*'  GEN.   THOMAS  FliAXCJS  MEAGHER. 

MATTHEW  MURPHY,    .  .  .  Lieutenant   company  G. 

JAMES   LOWRY,  .  .  .  Lieutenant  company  II. 

FKAXCIS   WHELPY,       .  .  .  Lieutenant  company  II. 

TIIOS.    M.   CANTON,      .  .  .  Lieutenant  company  I. 

WM.    FOGARTY,  .  .  .  Lieutenant   company  I. 

MAURICE   W.    WALL.  .  .  .  Lieutenant   company  K. 

CAPTURE  OF  COLONEL  CORCORAN. 

For  some  days  after  the  return  of  the  69th  from  Manassas,  the  most 
intense  anxiety  regarding  the  fate  of  its  gallant  colonel  was  manifested  by 
his  friends  throughout  the  North.  The  first  reliable  information  as  to  what 
had  become  of  him  after  the  regiment  had  recrossed  Bull  Run  on  the  retreat, 
was  conveyed  in  the  following  letter  from  himself  to  his  friend,  Captain 
Kirker :  — 

"EiCHMOND,   VA.,   July   24th,   1SC1. 
"  CAPTAIN  JAMES  B.   KIRKEE. 

"My  Di/ar  Captain:  —  I  know  you  will,  regret  to  hear  of  me  being 
here  a  prisoner  of  war.  The  circumstances  connected  with  the  affair 
are  easily  told.  My  regiment  was  twice  engaged  during  that  hard-con 
tested  fight  on  the  21st  inst.,  and  left  the  field  with  the  thanks  of  Gen. 
McDowell  for  their  services.  I  brought  them  off  in  admirable  order,  having 
formed  a  square,  to  defend  against  the  cavalry,  who  were  advancing.  I 
moved  in  the  square  until  reaching  a  wood,  when,  having  to  pass  through 
a  defile,  and  over  very  broken  ground,  I  had  to  march  by  a  flank  until  I 
reached  the  road,  where  we  got  mixed  up  with  two  other  regiments  who 
were  retreating  in  disorder.  I  soon  ordered  a  halt  to  correct  our  line,  and 
scarcely  had  the  command  been  giver,  when  the  cavalry  of  the  enemy 
were  seen  advancing,  and  immediately  the  other  regiments  went  over  the 
ra._,-lence  into  the  field,  and  mine  with  them.  I  dismounted  (my  horse  being 
wounded,)  and,  following  into  the  field,  took  the  colors  and  called  out  to 
rally  around  it.  My  voice  was  drowned  amid  the  roar  of  our  artillery  and 
the  discharge  of  the  cavalry  carbines,  consequently  only  two  olh'cers,  Capt. 
Mclvor  and  Lieut.  Connelly,  with  nine  privates,  were  all  I  had.  This  delay 
caused  our  arrest.  The  cavalry  surrounded  ua  at  a  small  house  which  I  was 
about  to  use  as  a  means  of  defence,  and  made  prisoners  of  my  gallant 
little  band.  Many  others  were  made  prisoners  in  the  same  field  and  imme 
diate  vicinity,  who  had  fallen  down  from  exhaustion,  making  a  total  of 
prisoners  from  the  Sixty-ninth  of  thirty-s^even,  who  are  all  here,  and  a  list 


THE  BULL   11  UN  CAMPAIGN.  403 

of   whom   I  send  you,   that  j  ou    may  publish  it  for  the   information  of   their 
friends. 

'•  We  lost  many  a  brave  and  manly  spirit  on  that  day,  which  fills  me 
with  the  deepest  sorrow.  My  beloved  acting  Lieutenant-Colonel  Haggerty 
was  the  first  who  fell.  Captain  Meagher,  who  acted  as  Major,  I  have  not 
seen  since  the  fight,  nor  any  person  who  could  give  me  any  information. 
My  imprisonment  is  deeply  embittered  from  the  want  of  knowledge  of  the 
fate  of  my  beloved  soldiers  since  my  last  sight  of  them. 

'•  There  are  about  forty  officers  here,  amongst  whom  are  Capts.  Manson 
and  Farrish,  Lieuts.  Irwin,  John  White,  Jves  and  Campbell,  of  the  79th;  Lieut. 
Gordon,  Second  United  States  Dragoons;  Drs.  Powers  and  Connolly  of  the 
Second;  Drs.  Norval  and  McKlechy,  of  the  79th;  Lieut.  Goodenough,  of  the 
Fourteenth  Regiment  of  Brooklyn;  and  Captain  Griffin,  of  the  Eighth  New 
York. 

'•There  are  about  six  hundred  prisoners  in  this  building,  belonging  to 
different  regiments  —  the  Second,  Eighth,  and  Seventy-First  New  York,  and 
Fire  Zouaves.  I  send  you  some  lists ;  publish  them  for  the  benefit  of  their 
friends. 

"  Give  my  love  to  Mrs.  Corcoran  and  all  friends,  and  believe  me  your 
sincere  and  affectionate  friend. 

"  MICHAEL  CORCORAN, 

"  Colonel   Sixty-ninth  Reg.,   N.   Y.   S.   M." 

In  a  subsequent  letter  to  Captain  Kirker  Colonel  Corcoran  thus  alludes 
to  the  faithful  few  who  rallied  at  his  call  around  the  u  Stars  and  Stripes.'' 

'•  I  described  briefly,  in  my  last  letter  to  you,  the  circumstances  under 
which  I  was  arrested,  as  also  Captain  Mclvor,  Lieut.  Connolly.  Sergeants 
Murphy  and  Donohoe,  Corporal  Owen  Duffy,  and  a  few  privates  —  all  of 
whom  shall  always  be  among  the  first  in  my  affection,  and  especially  Lieut. 
Connolly,  who  was  in  advance,  yet  on  looking  and  seeing  me  make  a  stand, 
he  turned  back,  and  stood  by  my  side,  ready  to  share  his  fate  with 
mine.1' 

Among  the  privates  who  stood  by  their  colonel  on  this  trying  occasion 
was  James  M.  Rorty  —  of  whom,  —  as  one  of  the  bravest  and  most  talented 
young  officers  in  the  Union  Army  —  I  shall  have  more  to  say  in  due  time. 

After  sharing  his  Colonel's  imprisonment  in  Richmond  for  nearly  two 
months,  Rorty  and  two  of  his  comrades  succeeded  in  making  their  escape. 
On  his  return  to  New  York,  Mr.  Rorty  published  a  long  and  highly  inter- 


404  MEUOIES    OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FUAXCUS   ME  AGUE  11 

esting  account  of  his  experiences  during  the  campaign  —  in  the  Irish  Ameri 
can.  From  this  I  select  some  additional  details  relating  to  the  ruauuer  of 
Colonel  Corcoran's  capture,  and  of  his  life  in  prison :  — 

"When  our  attack  failed,  and  the  retreat  began,  Colonel  Corcoran  endea 
vored  to  cover  it  by  forming  his  imn  in  square,  in  which  order  he  moved 
to  the  point  at  which  we  crossed  Bull  Run,  where,  on  account  of  the  woods 
and  the  narrowness  of  the  path  down  the  bluffs  that  formed  the  west  bank, 
it  had  to  be  reduced  to  a  column.  Sherman,  -who  was  in  the  square,  told 
the  men  to  get  away  as  fast  as  they  could  as  the  enemy's  cavalry  were 
coming. 

"  This  prevented  Colonel  Corcoran  from  reforming  the  men  in  square  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Run,  a  movement  which  would  have  not  only  effectually 
repelled  the  enemy,  but  would  also  have  covered  the  retreat  of  every  bat 
tery  lost  subsequently.  It  was  in  his  endeavors  to  remedy  the  disorder  and 
straggling  caused  by  this  '•  license  to  run,"1  that  Colonel  Corcoran  (who,  from 
the  unfortunate  and  irreparable  loss  of  Haggerty,  and  the  absence  of  all 
his  staff,  was  obliged  to  be  somewhat  in  the  rear,)  was  cut  off'  from  the 
main  body  of  the  regiment  by  the  enemy's  horse,  and  being  able  to  rally  only 
nine  men,  moved  into  a  small  house,  to  make  a  better  defence,  but  was 
induced  by  some  of  his  officers  to  surrender,  as  resistance  was  hopeless. 
Meantime  about  half  a  dozen  men  had  joined  him  at  the  house,  of  whose 
arrival  he  was  ignorant.  Trifling  as  this  reinforcement  was,  he  surrendered 
so  reluctantly  that  I  verily  believe  had  he  known  of  it  he  would  not  have 
surrendered  without  a  desperate  fight. 

"  As  I  shared  all  his  subsequent  misfortunes,  and  witnessed  the  manly 
fortitude  with  which  he  bore  them,  the  consistent  dignity  with  which  he 
repelled  all  overtures  lor  any  parole  that  would  tie  up  his  hands  from  the 
Union  cause,  and  repulsed  some  Southern  friends  who  endeavored  to  seduce 
him  from  it,  it  may  not  be  improper  to  sketch  his  prison  life. 

';  Owing  to  the  inadfquate  arrangements  for  our  accommodation  in  Rich 
mond,  it  was  the  afternoon  of  the  24th  before  some  of  us  got  anything  to 
eat,  so  that  we  had  eaten  only  once  in  four  days.  The  colonel  was 
extremely  exhausted,  but  he  desired  all  his  men  to  be  brought  to  him, 
'that  he  might  take  a  look  at — and  know,'  as  he  said.  —  'those  who  had 
done  their  duty  to  the  last.' 

"  Learning  that  some  had  no  money  and  wanted  clothing  badly,  he  gave 
twenty  dollars  out  of  his  own  scanty  resources  for  their  use.  He  also 
purchased  and  sent  a  number  of  shirts  to  the  wounded  of  his  corps,  and 


THE  BULL  11UX  C 


sent  some  money  to  many  of  them  also.  He  was  never  allowed  to  go  out, 
not  even  to  the  hospital,  to  see  his  wounded  men,  which  latter  I  heard 
him  complain  somewhat  of.  He  was  kept  quite  apart  from  us  who  were 
in  the  same  building,  although  some  of  us  managed  to  see  him  daily,  or 
oftener. 

"  I  wish  to  contradict,  however,  a  statement  which  has  obtained  uni 
versal  currency  about  him,  and  which  is  an  unmitigated  falsehood.  He  was 
never  in  irons,  nor  was  he  threatened  with  them  from  his  capture  until 
his  removal  to  Charleston  on  the  ICLh  ult.,  when  we  last  saw  him.  Rig- 
idly  as  he  was  watched,  and  great  as  was  the  importance  attached  to  his 
safe-keeping  —  the  consistent  bearing  of  which  I  have  already  spoken,  had 
won  for  him  the  respect  of  every  Southern ;  and  though  it  at  first  drew 
on  him  the  virulent  abuse  of  the  Richmond  press,  even  it  ultimately  changed 
its  tone,  and  declared  '  that  the  consistent  obstinacy  of  that  most  impudent 
and  inveterate  of  the  Yankee  prisoners,  Colonel  Corcoran,  was  preferable, 
by  far,  to  the  repentant  professions  and  cringing  course  of  some  prisoners 
to  obtain  a  parole.' 

'•As  to  our  general  treatment  it  was  harsh,  although  as  long  as'  any 
hope  of  the  Government  making  an  exchange  remained,  our  guards  were 
courteous  and  communicative,  and  I  feel  bound  to  say  that  the  cavalry  to 
whom  we  ^urrenaered  (the  Clay  Dragoons,)  acted  in  every  respect  like  chiv 
alrous  and  honorable  men.'' 

CASUALTIES  OF  THE   SIXTY-NINTH  AT  BULL  RUN. 

Officers   killed,    1 ;    wounded,    3 ;   prisoners,   5. 

Xou-comniissioned  officers  and  privates.  —  Killed,  40 ;  wounded,  85 ;  pris 
oners,  60. 


40G  MEMOIRS    OF  GEA.   THOMAS  FBANClti  MEAGHEli 


CHAPTER    LXII. 


FROM  THE  RETURN   OF  THE   SIXTY-NINTH  TO  THE  McMANTJS 
FUNERAL.  — THE  WELCOME  HOME. 

ON  July  24th,  18G1,  the  order  to  break  camp  and  return  to  New  York 
reached  the  69th  at  Fort  Corcoran.  That  evening  they  marched  to  Wash 
ington,  and  bivouacked  for  the  night  in  the  White  House  grounds.  At  noon, 
next  day,  they  took  the  train  for  Baltimore.  In  marching  through  that 
city,  on  their  way  to  the  Philadelphia  depot,  they  were  loudly  cheered,  — 
a  tribute  of  respect  paid  to  no  other  Federal  corps  in  that  disaffected  city. 
In  Philadelphia  the  regiment  was  accorded  a  genuine  and  most  enthusiastic 
welcome  —  in  which  the  Fenian  Brotherhood  —  as  was  natural  —  took  the  fore 
most  part.  Owing  to  various  impediments  on  the  road,  it  was  not  until 
the  morning  of  the  27th  that  the  regiment  arrived  at  New  York.  They 
lauded  at  the  Battery,  —  having  come  by  steamer  from  Perth  Amboy. 

The  scene  at  their  reception  was  such  as  had  rarely,  if  ever,  been  wit 
nessed —  up  to  that  time  —  in  New  York.  Indeed,  with  the  exception  of 
that  of  the  triumphant  return  of  Colonel  Corcoran,  a  year  later  —  it  was 
never  surpassed  in  enthusiasm.  It  was  simply  indiscribable  in  words, 
though  some  idea  of  its  character  may  be  conceived  from  the  fine  painting 
which  commemorates  it,  that  can  be  seen  in  the  "  Governor's  Room,"  in  the 
New  York  City  Hall. 

Captain  James  Kelly,  as  the  senior  line  officer,  was  in  command  of  the 
C9th  —  which  was  then  without  tield  officers.  By  his  side  rode  Captain 
Thomas  F.  Meagher.  With  the  first  news  of  the  disastrous  battle,  he  had 
been  reported  killed,  and  the  joyous  enthusiasm  with  which  his  well-known 
form  was  greeted  by  his  delighted  admirers,  could  scarcely  have  been  more 
intense  had  he  actually  come  back  to  them  irom  the  dead.  His  brother 
soldiers  participated  in  the  ovation  tendered  him.  Every  man  of  them,  — 
officer  and  private  —  proudly  felt,  that,  as  far  as  men  could  do,  they  had 
redeemed  the  pledges  which  he  made  in  their  behalf  on  the  day  tbey  Ifet 


THE     WELCOME    HOME.  407 

the  city  to  meet  the  enemies  of  the  Union.  They  felt  that  they  had  jus 
tified,  by  their  conduct  in  the  presence  of  these  enemies,  the  confidence 
their  friends  and  fellow-citizens  reposed  in  them  on  that  memorable  day, 
end  therefore,  ragged,  dusty,  and  travel-stained  as  they  were  —  a  portion  of 
a  defeated  army  —  they  did  not  feel  themselves  beaten,  and  would  not  accept 
the  shame  of  a  defeat  for  which  they,  at  all  events,  were  not  responsible. 

And  yet  amid  all  the  exciting  tumult,  the  salvos  of  artillery,  the  crash 
ing  of  bands,  the  cheers  of  the  mighty  multitude  which  lined  their  route 
—  the  prayers,  the  blessings,  the  congratulations  and  caresses  of  loving  kin 
dred  and  friends,  there  was  scarcely  a  man  amongst  them  who  did  not  feel 
a  pang  of  sadness  chill  his  exultant  heart-throbbings  owing  to  the  uncer 
tainty  of  their  beloved  colonel's  fate.  That  same  reflection  permeated  the 
hearts  of  other  thousands  \\ho  missed  the  hero  from  his  accustomed  place 
at  the  head  of  his  gallant  command. 

MEAGIIER   EULOGIZES    HIS    COMRADES. 

In  private  conversation  a  few  days  after  his  arrival  in  New  York, 
Meagher  gave  some  interesting  details  of  the  recent  campaign,  which  were 
not  embodied  in  his  published  narratives. 

Of  the  bravery,  and  steadiness  of  all  the  line  officers  of  the  69th  he 
spoke  in  the  highest  terms  of  commendation.  lie  particularly  eulogized 
captains  James  and  Patrick  Kelly,  Breslin,  Cavanagh,  Clarke  and  the  But 
lers;  lieutenants  William  of  Company  "II,"  and  Edward  K.  Butler  of  the 
"Zouaves,"  lieutenants  Maurice  Wall  and  MacMahon  —  "Soldier  Mack."  lie 
declared  that  "Harry  Lorrequer"  never  drew  the  picture  of  a  more  rollick 
ing,  daring  and  dashing  soldier  than  Sergeant  Welpley  proved  himself 
throughout  the  three,  months'  service;  "a  thorough  soldier  —  no  one  was 
smarter,  readier,  or  braver." 

[NOTE.  —  FRANK  WKI.PLEY  First  Sergeant  in  Company  "  IT,"  Sixty-ninth 
.Regiment,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  was,  at  the  same  time,  Captain  of 
Company  "A"  in  the  First  llegiment  Phoenix  Brigade.  As  a  military 
instructor  he  had  no  superior,  and  but  few  equals  in  either  organization. 
Originally  trained  by  the  lamented  Captain  llaggerty,  that  officer  felt  proud 
of  his  pupil.  Without  any  exception  he  was  the  most  zealous  and  success 
ful  recruiting  ollicer  in  the  military  department  of  the  Fenian  Brotherhood, 
and  a  universal  favorite  —  for  his  genial  temperament  and  warm  affectionate 
heart.  His  patriotism,  amiability,  and  general  fitness  for  the  position, 
caused  him  to  be  selected  as  the  representative  delegate  of  the  Phoenix  Brigade 
at  the  McMauus  funeral.  On  his  return  from  Ireland,  in  the  spring  of  18G2, 


408  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS    FEANV1S  MEAGUb.ll. 

he   aided   colonel   Matt.    Murphy   in   organizing   the  GOth.    X.  Y.  S.  M.,    for   its' 
four   months'    service   at   the   front. 

When  General  Corcoran  organized  the  Irish  Legion  in  the  autumn  of 
that  year,  Frank  Welpley  was  appointed  Captain  in  its  first  regiment  (the 
69th).  He  participated  in  every  battle  of  the  u  Legion "  until  he  was  killed 
at  Ream's  Station,  Ya..  August  5th,  1SG4.  No  better  or  braver  soldier  ever 
died  for  the  cause  of  the  Union. 

C<>ptain  Welpley  was  buried  by  his  trusty  comrades  on  the  field  where 
he  fell,  but,  in  the  following  year,  his  patriotic  and  true-hearted  Irish  wife 
had  the  remains  of  her  gallant  soldier  disinterred,  and,  under  her  loving 
care,  conveyed  to  Ireland,  where  she  consigned  them  to  a  grave  among 
those  of  his  kindred  in  his  native  town  of  Skibbereen.  w 

O !  ERI  MO  CHROIDHE  'TA  M'  IXTIXX  ORT.* 
To  THE  MEMORY  OF  MY  BELOVED   COMRADE   CAPTAIN  VS'ELPLEY,  COKCORAN'S 

iKISII    L.EGION. 

One  still  Christmas  night,  by  the  Potomac  river, 

Our  army  lay  cantoned  in  long  ordered  lines; 
Th'i  keen  frosty  air  made  the  sentinels  shiver. 

And  icicles  fringed  the  dark  leaves  of  the  pines. 
The  bells,  in  the  distance,  were  cheerily  ringing, 
'•  Great  tidings  of  joy  !"  to  humanity  bringing, 
"While  stetchtd  by  his  camp- tire,  a  soldier  lay  singing  — 

*  O!  Eri  mo  chroidhe  'ta  ni  intinn  ortT 

"I've  loved  you,  dear  Eire,  as  the  mother  that  bore  me, 

With  her  milk  1  imbibed  deadly  hate  10  your  foe; 
And  I  longed,  as  a  man,  like  my  fathers  before  me. 

To  strike,  lor  your  freedom,  a  soldier's  strong  biow. 
But  I  saw,  lamine-stricken,  your  children  lie  dying, 
And  maddened,  I  k  rose'  with  my  comrades,  defying 
Their  slayers.     We  failed!  then  o'er  ocean  sped  signing  — 
'  0!  Eri  mo  chroidhe  'ta  m'  intinn  ortT 

"  Since  I  first  set  my  foot  on  this  fair  '  land  of  freedom.' 

In  your  service  I've  laoored  by  night  and  by  day; 
1  have  traiueu  your  true  sous,  hoping  sometime  to  lead  them 

in  disciplmeu  strength  on  your  hills,  far  away. 
In  the  camp,  on  the  march,  in  the  hot  rush  of  battle, 
'Mid  the  soldier's  wild  cheeis  and  the  rifle's  quick  rattle, 
When  the  foe  fly  betore  us  like  panic-struck  cattle  — 

k  0!  Eri  mo  c/ooidhe  'ta  m'  intinn  ort!J 

****** 
Long  he  fought  in  the  ranks  of  the  brave  '•  Irish  Legion," 

Then  ftll !  —  his  jast  thought  on  the  land  he  loved  best; 
Lu.  his  name  shail  go  down  En's  history's  page  on, 

And  he  sleeps  in  his  own  "  Holy  Isle  of  the  West ! ' 
On  the  bright  wings  of  glory  his  soul  fled  upspringing, 
To  his  Brothers  whose  thoughts  are  to  Ireland  still  clinging, 
'Mid  angelic  hosaunas  their  voices  join  singing  — 

••  0!  Eri  mo  chroidhe  'ta  m'  intinn  ori/"] 

*O  Erin,  my  heart,  my  mind  is  on  thee!  (Pronounced  "O  Airie,  mo  hree,  taa  m'  intinn 
ort!") 


THE    WELCOME  HOME.  409 


On  August  3d  the  69th  was  mustered  out,  and  discharged  from  the 
service  ot  the  United  States. 

"  Within  a  few  days  thereafter,  Captain  Meagher  returned  to  Washing 
ton  to  see  after  some  of  the  wounded  men  of  the  regiment,  who  were  left 
in  the  hospitals  of  that  cit}-.  He  paid  a  visit  to  Fort  Corcoran  and  found 
it  occupied  by  three  companies  of  U.  S.  Artillery,  while  a  division  of  eight 
thousand  men  were  encamped  in  its  immediate  vicinity  —  the  Ninth  Massa 
chusetts  Volunteers — Colonel  Cass's  famous  Irish  regiment,  being  in  tbe 
advance  and  engaged  in  the  construction  of  an  extensive  redout  to  protect 
Fort  Corcoran,  and  command  Ball's  Cross  Koads.  —  the  point  of  intersection 
of  the  Fairfax,  Leesburg,  and  Alexandria  turnpikes. 

During  his  stay  at  the  capital,  Captain  Meagher  was  proffered  by  the 
War  Department  a  captaincy  in  the  regular  army,  which,  however,  he  res 
pectfully  declined,  with  a  request  to  the  Secretary  of  War  to  transfer  it  to 
some  other  officer  of  the  Sixty-ninth  Regiment,  who  from  a  longer  term  of 
military  service  and  a  larger  amount  of  practice  than  he  could  claim,  might 
be  better  entitled  to  the  distinction.  He  suggested  to  the  Secretary's  favor 
able  consideration  Captain  James  Kelly,  the  senior  Captain  of  the  Sixty- 
ninth,  who  subsequently  was  appointed  to  the  position. 

At  the  same  time,  owing  to  the  influence  and  energy  of  one  of  Captain 
Meagher's  most  devoted  friends  in  Washington,  the  services  which,  as  the 
most  ihiluential  man  of  his  race  on  the  continent,  he  was  capable  of  ren 
dering  the  cause  of  the  Union,  were  recognized  by  some  of  the  leading 
statesmen  in  the  capital,  one  of  whom,  the  Hon.  Frank  P.  Blair,  called 
Major-General  Fremont's  attention  to  the  importance  of  the  subject,  where 
upon  General  Fremont  promptly  sent  the  annexed  dispatch  to  the  gallant 
Irish  soldier :  — 

"HEADQUARTKRS,    Department   of   the  West, 

St.   Louis,   Mo.,    15th  August,    1861. 
"  Captain  T.   F.   Meagher,   Xew  York. 

••  Will  you  accept  the  position  of  Aid  de-Camp  on  my  staff,  with  the 
rank  of  Colonel?  If  so,  report  to  me. 

"Joiix  C.  FRKMOXT. 

"Major-General   Commanding." 

Much  as  Meagher  appreciated  the  compliment  thus  delicately  proffered,  he 
could  not  accept  it  in  view  of  the  fact  that  his  brother  officers  of  the  GOth 
had  it  then  in  contemplation  to  reorganize  the  regiment  for  three  years' 


410  31EMOIES   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FBANC1S  MEAGHER. 


service    as    United    States  Volunteers,   and    he  could  not  be  induced  to   sever 
his   connection   with  his   battle-tried    comrades. 

He  had  previously  declined  the  proffered  command  of  a  new  Irish  regi 
ment —  then  known  as  the  "Third  New  York  Irish  Regiment"  —  and  on 
similar  grounds  —  as  will  be  seen  from  the  following  correspondence:  — 


"  HEADQUARTERS,   17   Centre  Street,  "} 


New  ,York,   July   31th,    18G1 
"  CAPT.  T.   F.   MEAGHER. 

"  Dear  Sir,  —  The  glorious  example  set  to  the  Irish  adopted  citizens  by 
the  gallant  69th  induced  the  formation  of  the  "Third  Irish  Volunteers," 
and  its  principles  are  the  same  as  theirs :  —  if  the  Irish  perform  a  brave 
act,  let  them  get  the  credit  of  it. 

"  The  '  Third  Irish '  have  been  accepted  by  the  United  States  Govern 
ment  for  the  war,  and  will  be  ready  to  enter  the  field  in  a  very  short 
time.  The  officers,  one  and  all,  respectfully  ask  if  you  will  be  the  man  to 
lead  them,  they  pledging  themselves  that  you  will  never  regret  having 
accepted  the  command. 

"  On  behalf  of  the  regiment,  the  following  officers  cheerfully  subscribe 
their  names. 

"  With  every  mark  of  respect, 

'•  Respectfully  yourSj 
"P.   D.   KELLY,   Lieutenant-Colonel. 
"JOSEPH   McDONOUGH,    Capt.   and   Acting   Adjutant. 
"  JOHN  A.   MCSORLEY,   Acting   Commissary." 

Captain   Meaghers  reply  :  — 

"NEW  YORK,   August  5th,   1861. 

"Gentlemen: —  In  reply  to  your  very  complimentary  and  friendly  com 
munication  of  the  31st  of  last  mouth  —  which  press  of  duties  in  connection 
with  the  69th  prevented  my  acknowledging  until  this  late  moment,  1  beg 
to  say  that,  whilst  I  should  esteem  it  a  high  honor  to  be  at  the  head  of 
the  regiment  you  are  organizing,  I  am  too  strongly  attached  to  the  69ui 
to  be  induced,  — however  powerful  the  temptation,  —  to  break  the  ties  whioli 
bind  me  to  it.  Those  ties  were  formed  and  strengthened  amid  scenes  and 
under  influences  which  frequently  give  rise  to  and  confirm  the  most  fervent 
friendships.  Having  been  in  camp  and  battle  with  the  69th  I  cannot  find 
it  in  my  heart  to  part  from  my  tried  and  honored  comrades,  and,  in  memory 


THE    WELCOME  HOME.  411 

of   the  days   during   which   I   shared   their   fortunes,  prefer  the  humblest  posi 
tion   in   their  ranks   to  the  highest   I   could   hold   with   newer  friends. 

"  With    sincere    regards    for    each    of    you    personally,   and   the  friendliest 
wishes  for  the  success  of  your  regiment,  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  gentlemen, 
"Most  faithfully  yours, 

"  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER, 

"Capt.    Co.   K.    69th  Regt. 

"To  Lieut. -Col.  P.  D.  Kelly,  Capt.  Jos.  McDonough,  and  Acting-Com 
missary  McSorley,  3d  Regiment  Irish  Volunteers,  New  York." 

[The  "  Third  Irish  Volunteers "  subsequently  served  under  the  man  of 
their  choice  as  the  "  Sixty-third  New  York  Volunteers "  —  "  Irish  Brigade."] 

When  the  call  was  issued  for  volunteers  to  serve  for  three  years  or 
during  the  war,  the  idea  of  organizing  a  distinctive  Irish  Brigade  originated 
among  the  officers  of  the  69th,  who  served  in  the  three  months'  campaign. 
They  intended  that  the  command  of  the  Brigade  should  be  tendered  to  their 
most  distinguished  military  countryman  —  the  veteran  General  James  Shields. 
Meagher  entered  into  the  project  with  his  accustomed  ardor,  and  immediately 
devoted  all  his  abilities  to  carrying  out  the  plan  systematically  and  energeti 
cally.  It  was  intended  that  the  organization  should  comprise  five  regiments  of 
infantry,  with  a  proportionate  force  of  cavalry  and  artillery  —  three  of  the 
infantry  regiments  to  be  raised  in  New  York,  one  in  Massachusetts,  and 
one  in  Pennsylvania;  the  nucleus  of  the  New  York  contingent  to  be  formed 
by  such  officers  and  men  of  the  69th  as  choose  to  reeulist  for  three  years. 
As  a  first  step,  Meagher  was  deputed  by  the  great  majority  of  his  brother 
officers  to  communicate  with  the  War  Department  on  the  subject  contem 
plated,  in  their  behalf. 

His  offer  was  promptly  accepted,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  following  offi 
cial  document :  — 

"WAR  DEPARTMENT,    Washington. 

August  30th,    18G1. 
"Colonel  Thomas   F.   Meagher,   New  York. 

"  Sir  —  The  regiment  of  infantry  known  as  the  Sixty-ninth  infantry, 
which  you  offer,  is  accepted  for  three  years  or  during  the  war,  provided 
you  have  it  ready  for  marching  orders  in  thirty  days.  This  acceptance  is 
with  the  distinct  understanding  that  this  Department  will  revoke  the  Com 
missions  of  all  officers  who  may  be  found  incompetent  for  the  proper  dis 
charge  of  their  duties.  Your  men  will  be  mustered  into  the  United  Statei 


4:U  MEMOIRS  OF  GEX.   THOMAS  FRANCIS   MEAUUER. 

service  in   accordance   with  General   Orders    Nos.  58    and   61.     You   are  further 
authorized    to    arrange    with    the    Colonels-commanding    of    other    four    regi 
ments   to   be  raised   to  form   a   Bridade,  the   Brigadier-General   for   which   will 
be  designated  hereafter,    by   the  proper    authorities   of   the   Government. 
"Very   respectfully, 

"Your   obedient   servant, 

"  THOMAS  A.   SCOTT, 

'•Assistant   Secretary   of  War." 

That  there   was  no  mistaking  the  choice   of  the  officers  as  to  who  should 
be  in   command  of   the  proposed   Brigade,  the   following   letter   from   Meagher 
to    his    friend    and    fellow-countryman — B.    S.    Treauor,    of    Boston,    satisfac 
torily   demonstrates :  — 
\ 

"NEW  YORK.   Sept.   5,   1861. 

"  My  Dear  Treanor,  —  Won't  you  be  able  to  set  to  work  and  start  an 
Irish  regiment  in  Boston  for  the  Irish  Brigade?  Do  so,  and  do  so  at  once. 
There's  no  time,  not  a  day  to  be  lost.  General  Shields  may  be  here  in  a 
month ;  and  the  Brigade  should  be  ready  for  him.  In  case  you  undertake  the 
preliminary  steps  necessary  to  the  organization  of  such  a  regimp'1''.  select 
none  but  intelligent,  active,  steady  young  men  —  men  of  decent  Lm.racter, 
ind  with  a  proper  sense  of  the  duties  and  dangers  of  the  service. 

"  A  granu  rally  shouM  be  made  right  away,  by  all  of  us,  in  support  of 
the  friendliest  government  Irishmen  have  ever  known,  and  the  overthrow  of 
which  is  at  this  moment  the  eager  desire  and  evil  scheme  of  the  ruling 
class  in  England,  —  a  power  which  has  been,  as  all  the  world  knows,  the 
uveteraie  enemy  of  our  race,  —  of  its  happiness  and  liberty  at  home,  —  of 
its  success  and  good  name  abroad.  Let  the  gallant  Irish  of  Boston  and 
Massachusetts  generally  be  up  and  stirring  in  the  national  cause.  Every 
blow  dealt  against  the  great  conspiracy  beats  back  the  insolence  and  base 
plots  of  England. 

"  Most   faithfully   your  friend. 

"  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MKAGHER." 

While  thus  ardently  engaged  in  lighting  the  fires  of  patriotism  in  the 
hearts  of  his  living  countrymen.  Thomas  Frances  Meaghcr  was  no  less  mind 
ful  of  the  claims  which  the  gallant  dead  had  upon  the  duty,  the  pride,  and 
the  affection  of  their  race.  The  heroes  who  found  crimsoned  graves  among 
the  green  woods  of  Virginia,  as  well  as  their  returned  brothers,  whose 


THE  SIXTY-NINTH  FESTIVAL.  413 

wounds  incapacitated  them  from  earning  a  livelihood,  had  many  a  dear  one 
dependent  on  the  fruits  of  their  toil  when  living,  and  whom  their  death 
or  disability  left  utterly  destitute. 

To  mitigate  the  sufferings  of  these  bereaved  parents,  widows  and 
orphans,  —  in  so  far  as  material  aid  and  heartfelt  sympathy  could  do  so, — 
became  the  paramount  duty  and  loving  care  of  their  fellow-citizens, — and 
more  especially  so.  of  the  surviving  comrades  of  the  loved  and  lost.  Bravely, 
hopefully,  and  fraternally  did  the  latter  undertake  the  sacred  obligation. 
A  festival,  on  an  unprecpdented  scale,  for  the  benefit  of  the  widows  and 
orphans  of  the  Sixty-Ninth,  was  announced  to  take  place  on  the  29th  of 
August,  in  Jones'  Wood,  the  chief  attraction  of  which  was  to  be  an  Ora 
tion  by  Thomas  Francis  Meagher. 

SIXTY-NINTH  FESTIVAL. 

•  eep  for  him!  oh,  weep   lor  him!  but  remember  In  your  moan,— 
That  he  died  In  fiis  pride  — with  his  foes  around   him   strewn. 

THOMAS  DAVIS. 

The  attendance  at  the  u Sixty-ninth  Festival"  was  never  equaled  in 
'point  of  numbers  by  any  gathering  on  Manhattan  Island  to  which  an 
admittance  fee  was  charged.  At  the  lowest  estimate  there  were  fifty  thou 
sand  persons  present.  About  one-fourth  of  the  multitude  congregated  in 
front  of  the  grand  stand,  from  which  Thomas  Francis  Meagher  delivered  — 
what  was  universally  admitted  to  be  —  the  grandest  oration  he  had,  up  to 
that  time,  given  in  America.  It  was  the  first  of  a  series  of  five  magnificent 
addresses,  which,  in  as  many  weeks,  he  delivered  before  immense  assem 
blages,  in  Boston,  Bridgeport,  Brooklyn,  and  New  York.  Those  speeches 
were  published  in  every  leading  journal  throughout  the  loyal  States,  and 
their  effect  in  favor  of  the  Union  cause  was  incalculable.  It  is  no  exag 
geration  to  say  that  they  influenced  ten  times  as  many  Irishmen  to  enrol 
themselves  in  defence  of  the  "  Stars  ard  Stripes."  as  the  orator  personally 
commanded  in  his  famous  u Brigade;"  and  should  these  speeches,  together 
with  his  many  others  in  the  same  cause,  be  collected  and  published  in  a 
permanent  form,  they  will  constitute  a  stronger  claim  on  the  admiration 
and  gratitude  of  the  American  people  than  will  the  imperishable  record  of 
his  splendid  services  in  the  field. 

From  the  magnificent  oration  at  u  Jones'  Wood "  I  select  two  brief  pas 
sages,  —  the  first  extract  being  taken  from  his  beautiful  and  pathetic  tribute 
to  his  dead  comrades:  — 


414  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FBANC18 


4i  Peacefulness  and  joyousness  and  glory  —  such  as  no  home  on  earth, 
however  blest,  confers,  nor  the  most  affluent  city,  in  the  fulluess  of  its  grat 
itude  and  grandeur  can  decree  —  be  for  eternity  to  those  who  fell,  on  that 
terrible  Sunday  in  July,  in  the  tempest  which  swept  with  flames,  and  beat 
back,  on  a  deluge  of  carnage  and  consternation,  the  army  that  had  advanced 
to  restore  in  an  insurgent  State  the  supremacy  of  the  national  authority. 
Peacefulness,  and  joyousness  and  glory  be  to  those  who  fell  in  this  great  ' 
endeavor,  wherever  they  may  have  been  born,  at  'whatever  altar  they  may 
have  worshiped,  to  whatever  school  of  politics  they  may  have  belonged. 
Peacefuluess,  and  joyousness,  and  glory,  eternal  and  supreme,  be  to  tho:-e 
who,  venturing  here  from  Ireland,  —  conceived  in  her  womb,  nourished  at 
her  breast,  nurtured  and  emboldened  as  her  children  only  are  —  went  forth 
without  a  thought  of  home,  of  reward  or  danger,  of  any  ties  however 
dear,  of  any  compensation  small  or  great,  of  any  consequences  however  des 
perate  and  fatal  they  might  be,  to  maintain  in  arms  the  authority  of  the 
government  to  which  they  swore  allegiance,"  and  in  the  perpetuation  of  which 
their  interests,  as  emigrants  driven  by  devastating  laws  and  practices  from 
their  native  soil  are  vitally  involved. 

uAs  this  prayer  goes  foith.  the  scene  before  me  seems  to  pass  away. 
Dense  white  clouds  rise  from  the  earth  and  intercept  it.  Lightnings  sweep 
through  those  clouds,  and  in  the  brightest  sunshine  that  can  bless  the  earth 
a  tempest  opens  which  shakes  the  forests  and  the  mountains  with  its  thun 
ders,  and  floods  the  meadows  with  a  rain  that  turns  to  red  their  greenest 
blades  of  grass.  Again  the  scene  change*.  The  storm  has  ceased.  The 
white  clouds  have  vanished.  On  the  glowing  horizen  the  mountains  of  Vir 
ginia  blend  their  grand  forms  with  a  sky  of  speckless  blue,  and,  silent  as 
the  pyramids  of  the  desert,  overlook  the  wreck  and  ravages  which  the  ex 
hausted  storm  has  left  behind  it.  As  they  seem  to  me  —  their  vast  w^ebs  of 
emerald  green,  interwoven  \\ith  the  golden  skeins  which  the  sun  flings  out 
—  in  their  restored  freshness  and  beauty,  the  woods,  where  the  storm  most 
fiercely  raged,  deepen  and  expand  for  miles.  The  grass  of  the  meadows 
grows  green  again,  and  the  streams  which  had  been  troubltd  and  stained 
like  them,  pursue  their  old  paths  in  peaceluluess  and  purity,  as  though  no 
il-ishing  hoofs  and  wheels,  no  burning  feet  pressing  in  thousands  to  the 
charge,  no  shot  or  shell  had  harrowed  them. 

"  But  on  the  silent  fields  which  these  noble  mountains  overlook,  and 
those  deep  groves  shadow,  I  see  many  a  strong  and  gallant  soldier  of  the 
Sixty-ninth  whom  I  knew  and  loved,  and  they  lie  there  in  the  rich  sun 
shine  discolored  and  cold  in  death.  All  of  them  were  from  Ireland,  and  as 


THE  S1XT T  NIA'TH  FES TI VAL.  4 1 5 

the    tide  of   life   rushed    out,   the  last  thought   that  left  their  hearts  was  for 
the   liberty  of   Ireland. 

"  Prominent  amongst  them,  strikingly  noticeable  by  reason  of  his  large, 
iron  frame,  and  the  boldly  chiselled  features  on  which  the  impress  of  great 
•strength  of  will  and  intellect  was  softened  by  a  constant  play  of  humor, 
and  the  goodness  and  grand  simplicity  of  his  heart  —  wrapped  ii,  his  rough 
old  overcoat,  with  his  sword  crossed  upon  his  breast,  his  brow  boldly  up 
lifted  as  though  he  was  still  in  command,  and  the  consciousness  of  having 
done  his  duty  sternly  to  the  last  animating  the  Roman  face  —  there  lies 
JAMES  HAGGEKTY  —  a  braver  soldier  than  whom  the  land  of  Sarsfield  and 
Shields  has  not  produced,  and  whose  name,  worked  in  gold  upon  the  colors 
of  the  Sixty-ninth,  should  be  henceforth  guarded  with  all  the  jealousy  and 
pride  which  inspires  a  regiment,  wherever  its  honor  is  at  stake  and  its 
standards  are  in  peril." 

The  other  extract  which  I  give  from  this  splendid  address,  contains  a 
declaration  of  the  principles  which  actuated  the  speaker  in  his  efforts  to 
maintain  the  integrity  of  the  Union,  and  may  be  said  to  constitute  the  text 
from  which  all  his  subsequent  arguments  in  favor  of  the  national  cause 
were  drawn :  — 

"Will  the  Irishmen  of  New  York  stand  by  this  cause  —  resolutely,  hear 
tily,  with  inexorable  fidelity,  despite  of  all  the  sacrifices  it  may  cost,  des 
pite  of  all  the  dangers  into  which  it  may  compel  them,  despite  of  the 
bereavements  and  abiding  gloom  it  may  bring  upon  such  homes  as  this  day 
miss  the  industry  and  love  of  the  dead  soldiers  of  the  Sixty-ninth,  but  in 
some  measure  to  console  ar,d  succor  which  the  festivities  of  this  day  have 
taken  place? 

"  For  my  part,  I  ask  no  Irishman  to  do  that  which  I  myself  am  not  pre 
pared  to  do.  My  heart,  my  arm,  my  life  is  pledged  to  the  national  cause, 
and  to  the  last  it  will  be  my  highest  pride,  as  I  conceive  it  to  be  my 
holiest  duty  and  obligation,  to  share  its  fortunes.  J  care  not  to  what  party 
the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Republic  has  belonged.  I  care  not  upon  what 
plank  or  platform  he  may  have  been  elected.  The  platform  disappears  be 
fore  the  Constitution,  under  the  injunction  of  the  oath  he  took  on  the  steps 
of  the  Capitol  the  day  of  his  inauguration.  The  party  disappears  in  the 
presence  of  the  nation  —  and  ^  as  the  Chief  Magistrate,  duly  elected  and  duly 
sworn,  is  bound  to  protect  and  administer  the  national  property  for  the 
benefit  of  the  nation,  so  should  every  citizen  concur  with  him  in  loyal  and 
patriotic  action,  discarding  the  mean  persuasions  and  maxims  of  the  local 


416  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

politician  —  and  substituting  the  national  interests,  the  national  efficiency,  the 
national  honor,  for  the  selfishness,  the  hueksKeriug  or  the  vengeance  of  a 
party." 

THE  MCMANUS  FUNERAL.  —  MEAGHER  AND  MITCHEL.  —  A  THRILLING 

INCIDENT. 

Great  as  were  the  demands  made  on  Meagh-er's  time  at  this  period  by 
his  indefatigable  exertions  in  behalf  of  the  national  cause  —  in  organizing, 
traveling,  and  exhorting  —  in  glorifying  the  dead  who  1<  11  in  its  defence, 
or  mitigating  the  sufferings  of  their  destitute  bereaved  ones,  he  was  not 
unmindful  of  the  claims  which  the  cause  and  the  comrades  of  his  early 
manhood  had  upon  his  duty  and  his  love. 

In  a  previous  chapter  I  have  recorded  the  important  part  which  he  had 
talari  in  the  movement  for  the  transfer  of  Terence  Bellevv  McMauus's  remains 
to  Ireland.  That  was  before  the  outbreak  of  the  war  called  him  to  the  front; 
but  on  his  return,  in  the  midst  of  the  other  onerous  duties  devolving  upon 
him,  he  resumed  his  former  position  on  the  Obsequies  Committee  with  his 
associates  O'Mahouy  and  Doheny,  and  labored  therein  with  nis  accustomed 
energy. 

Pursuant  to  a  call  of  the  Ex^ov.Mve  Committee  a  public  moetino;  of  all 
the  citizens  of  Xew  York  favorable  to  the  project,  was  held  at  Irviug  Hali 
on  Thursday  evening,  September  5th,  Thomas  Francis  Meagher  in  the  chair. 

In  the  course  of  the  proceedings  allusion  was  made  to  the  manner  in 
which  the  Irish  soldiers  distinguished  themselves  in  every  battle  field  from 
Dunkirk  and  Foutenoy  to  Bull  Eun  —  whereupon  some  one  in  the  audience 
called  for  "three  cheers  for  Thomas  Francis  Meagher  —  who  fought  so 
bravely  at  Bull  Run."  Three  ringing  cheers  were  given.  Three  more  were 
th'>n  called  for  Colonel  Michael  Corcoran.  A  most  enthusiastic  burst  of 
applause  —  again  and  again  repeated  —  greeted  the  name,  of  the  gallant  chief 
or  the  Sixty-ninth.  Pausing  until  the  cheering  had  subsided,  Meagher,  with 
g  •  nming  eye  and  quivering  lip,  and  his  cheek  flushing  with  the  rich  blood 
Unit  \\elled  up  Irom  his  proud,  loving  heart,  cried  out:  — 

"Xow  that  you  have  testified  your  loving  admiration  for  the  brave  Irish 
soldier  of  the  Union,  I  call  upon  you  to  give  three  cheers  for  the  two 
Sons  of  John  Mitchel,  who  are  fighting  as  bravely  on  the  other  side." 

The  effect  was  electrical.  None  who  witnessed  it  could  ever  forget  it. 
The  wild,  ringing  cheers,  repeated  over  and  over,  shook  the  banners  thar 


THE  SIXTY-NINTH  FESTIVAL.  117 

festooned  the  wall?,  and  showed  that  a  chord  in  the  Irish  heart  had  been 
struck,  —  as  none  but  Meagher  could  strike  it,  —  and  those  responsive  notes  tes 
tified  to  the  feeling  with  which  those  fiery-eyed  Celts — many  ot  whom  were 
among  the  first  to  spring  to  arms  in  defence  of  the  "'Starry  Banner"  —  regarded 
the  name  of  Mitchel ;  for  they  loved  and  venerated  the  father  of  those  gallant 
boys,  not  only  for  the  sufferings  he  so  heroically  endured  in  the  cause  of 
their  common  country,  but  because  he,  above  all  his  cotemporaries,  was  the 
man  who  most  truly  and  forcibly  gave  expression  to  that  country's  naiional 
idea?. 

What  John  Mitchel,  on  his  part,  thought  of  his  countrymen  in  the  Union 
ranks  may  be  seen  in  the  annexed  extract  from  one  of  his  Paris  letters 
dated  August  7th,  1801.  It  shows  that  there  was  '•  no  love  lost  between 
them.1' :  — 

"  For  the  sake  of  the  island  that  bred  them  I  am  rejoiced  that  the  69th 
Regiment  did  its  duty  in  the  bloody  day  of  Manassas.  —  They  have  seen 
some  service  at  last,  and  of  the  sharpest;  so  that  I  imagine  the  men  who 
faced  Beauregard's  artillery  and  rifles  until  Bull  Run  ran  red,  will  not  be 
likely  to  shrink  on  the  day  (when  will  it  dawn,  that  white  day?)  that 
they  will  have  the  comparatively  light  task  of  whipping  their  weight  of 
red-coats." 

ARRIVAL  OF  MCMANUS'S  REMAINS  IN   NEW  YORK.  —  ARCHBISHOP  HUGHES 

AND  MEAGHER 

On  the  afternoon  of  Friday,  September  13th,  the  remains  of  Terence 
Bellew  McMauus  arrived  in  New  York  on  board  the  steamship  Champion. 
On  Saturday  morning  they  were  landed  and  conveyed  to  the  Stevens  House 
—  to  lie  there  in  state  until  Monday,  under  a  guard  of  honor.  A  committee 
was  appointed  to  wait  on  Archbishop  Hughes  in  relation  to  the  performing 
of  a  solemn  high  requiem  mass  on  Monday  morning.  Thomas  Francis 
Meagher,  chairman  of  the  committee,  was  on  terms  of  most  friendly  inti 
macy  with  the  Archbishop  —  who  was  then  heartily  and  most  efficaciously 
cooperating  with  him  in  his  efforts  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  Union. 
In  response  to  the  request  of  the  committee  as  conveyed  through  their 
chairman,  the  Archbishop  said  that  there  would  be  a  solemn  requiem  mass 
at  half-past  ten  on  Monday  morning,  and  he  suggested  it  would  be  best 
not  to  have  the  remains  brought  to  the  Cathedral  until  then,  as  their  pres 
ence  there  on  Sunday  would  interfere  with  the  ordinary  services  held  in 
the  sacred  edifice,  from  the  fact  that  they  would  be  continually  visited  by 

27  ' 


418  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS    FEANCIS  MEAGHEB. 

crowds  of  people.  For  the  same  reason  he  recommended  that,  after  the 
religious  ceremonies  were  concluded,  the  remains  should  be  transferred  from 
the  Cathedral  to  the  receiving  vault  in  Calvary  Cemetery,  there  to  remain 
until  the  time  came  for  their  transmission  to  Ireland.  His  Grace  also  promisea 
to  be  present  at  the  religious  services,  and  make  a  few  remarks  befitting 
the  occasion. 

In  reply  to  the  invitation  of  the  committe  that  he  would  attend  the 
public  funeral  demonstration  —  the  Archbishop  said  that  — 

"Nothing  would  give  him  more  gratification  than  to  identify  him«elf 
with  the  honors  to  be  paid  to  our  deceased  countryman,  Terence  Bellew 
McManus,  that  nothing  would  prevent  his  attending,  but  he  had  made  a 
rule  for  the  last  twenty  years,  much  against  his  disposition  in  many  instan 
ces,  and  his  heart  in  most,  not  to  participate  in  any  funeral  honors,  even 
to  those  most  dear  to  him,  that  theiefore,  (though  he  liked  Mc>Lmus,  who, 
he  believed,  did  all  he  had  done  for  pure  love  of  country,  and  not  with 
the  view  of  personal  honor  or  emolument,)  he  felt  obliged  to  decline  the 
invitation." 

The  Archbishop  also  informed  the  committee  that,  "  on  the  occasion  of 
the  religious  services,  he  wanttd  no  secret  societies  to  enter  the  Cathedral 
in  their  regalia." 

(That  His  Grace  did  not  intend  this  interdiction  to  apply  to  the  mili 
tary  organization  of  the  Fenian  Brotherhood  was  evidenced  by  the  fact  that, 
on  the  occasion  in  question,  the  Guard  of  Honor  —  which  escorted  the 
remains  into  the  Cathedral,  and  were  assigned  pews  on  either  side  of  the 
bier,  —  was  selected  from  the  "  Phoenix  Zouaves.") 

At  the  appointed  hour  on  Monday,  September  14th,  the  coffin  contain 
ing  the  remains  of  the  Exile  of  'Forty-eight  was  brought  into  the  Cathe 
dral,  and  placed  on  pedestals  in  the  middle  aisle.  The  Executive  Commit 
tee  and  the  officers  of  the  new  Irish  Brigade  were  provided  with  reserved 
seats  in  its  immediate  vicinity,  after  which  the  doors  were  thrown  open 
and  the  church  was  immediately  filled. 

A  solemn  high  mass  of  requiem  was  then  sung  by  the  clergy  and  choir, 
the  Rev.  Father  Starrs,  V.  G.,  celebrant.  During  the  celebration  of  mass 
the  venerable  Archbishop  occupied  a  seat  at  the  right  side  of  the  sanctuary. 
At  the  termination  of  the  rites  he  arose,  assumed  his  full  pontificals,  and 
descending  to  the  first  step  of  the  sanctuary,  the  old  man,  in  a  voice  clear 
and  strong,  delivered  this  ever  memorable  address :  — 


ARCHBISHOP  HUGHES  AND    MEAGHER.  419 


ARCH-BISHOP  HUGHES'S  ADDRESS  OVER  TERENCE  BELLEW  MCMANUS. 

"It  is  a  great  deal  for  us  to  know  and  to  be  able  to  state  that  the 
dr^-rased,  whose  remains  are  now  before  the  altar,  loved  his  country.  In 
all  times,  in  all  nations,  and  under  all  circumstances,  whether  of  savage  or 
civilized  life,  love  of  country  has  always  been  held  as  a  virtue;  and  the 
Catholic  Church  always  approves  of  that  virtue,  for  in  the  teaching  of  her 
doctrines  the  love  of  country  conies  next  to  the  love  of  God,  next  to  that 
comes  the  love  of  friends,  relatives,  neighbors  and  society. 

"Now  this  love  of  country  has  generally  been  understood  as  that  by 
which  men  defend  their  native  or  their  adopted  soil,  and  support  its  gov 
ernment  when  that  government  is  lawful  and  not  oppressive.  If  that  gov 
ernment  should  degenerate  into  oppression  and  tyranny  then  would  come 
the  love  of  country,  but  not  its  government.  This  has  been  the  rule,  not 
by  authority  but  by  recognition  of  the  Catholic  Church,  in  all  ages,  and 
throughout  the  world. 

"  It  is  manifest,  "and  it  is  sometimes  made  a  reproach,  that  our  prin 
ciples  lean,  as  some  say,  too  much  to  the  side  of  what  is  called  con?erv- 
at'sm.  This  is  to  a  certain  extent  true;  but  if  true,  it  is  the  more  derserv- 
ing  of  approval. 

"We  have  not  read  that  in  the  propagation  of  the  Catholic  faith,  even 
in  the  times  of  the  Caesars,  of  the  Nero?,  the  Caligulas,  the  Dioclesians, 
Christians  ever  took  the  case  into  their  own  hands  and  rebelled.  They  had 
not  in  the  Gospel  which  they  came  to  teach  any  precepts  to  that  effect. 
Whenever  they  went  to  other  and  distant  nations  to  proclaim  the  truths  of 
ine  Gospel  they  did  not  find  in  the  charter  of  their  mission  any  special 
authority  to  overthrow  the  established  civil  state. 

"  Nevertheless,  some  of  the  most  learned  and  holy  men  of  that  church 
have  laid  it  down  with  the  general  sanction  of  authority  that  there  are 
rises  in  which  it  is  lawful  to  resist  and  overthrow  a  tyrannical  government. 

"The  instances,  indeed,  in  history  are  not  many;  but  there  is  one  to 
which  all  English-speaking  people  refer,  and  that  is  the  contest  between 
King  John  and  Cardinal  Langton  and  the  Barons  of  England  at  Kuuny- 
mede.  That  was  a  lawful  resistance,  and  it  was  one  to  which  the  tyrant 
had  to  succumb.  But  on  the  other  hand  it  must  be  observed  that  those 
rebellious  Barons  sought  only  the  recovery  of  rights  of  which  that  tyran 
nical  Prince  sought  to  deprive  the  English  people.  Little  by  little  the 
throne  had  been  encroaching  upon  the  rights  of  the  people;  and  those  men, 


420  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.  THOMAS  FMANC1S  HEA&HER. 

as  protectors  of  those  rights,  took  their  stand,  and  finally  succeeded  in 
obtaining  what  is  called  a  Magna  Charta,  the  great  broad  seal  of  English 
liberty.  And  yet  no  man  ever  saw  that  Magna  Charta,  either  in  manuscript 
or  in  print.  It  was  handed  over  to  the  keeping  of  tradition,  and  the  viola 
tion  of  it  would  be  a  cause  of  justifiable  resistance  against  the  government 
down  to  the  present  day. 

"  This  is  a  right  which  the  Catholic  Church  recognizes. 

"  The    only    difficulty    is    to    know    at    what    given    point    an    attempt   to 

redress  the   grievances   complained  of  may  be   commenced.     The   same   author- 

i  ties  to   which    I    have    referred,    particularly   St.   Thomas   Aquinas,  lay    down 

three  distinct  conditions  to  authorize  such  an  attempt.  ', 

"  The  first  of  these  is  that  the  grievance  should  be  a  real  one,  an 
actual  oppression,  for  it  is  very  difficult  to  reestablish  a  government  when  once 
overthrown.  And  we  have  seen  that  it  is  not  more  than  twelve  or  thirteen 
years  ago  when  new  ideas  gained  the  mastery  over  old  governments.  Changes 
were  made,  but  the  reforms  were  very  few.  The  conditions  then  laid  down 

—  first,   the    grievance    must    be    a   real    one,   either  a  new  oppression,   or  an 
old  one  magnified  almost   beyond  endurance. 

"The  second  is,  that  a  war  of  resistance  —  that  is,  the  impulse  to  resist 

—  should    be    a    general    one,    taking    in   the   whole   population   of    the  injured 
country  with    their    united    will,    their    common   sense  of  the  wrong  inflicted, 
and   their   determined   purpose  to    stand   by  each  other,    shoulder  to  shoulder, 
till  they  obtain  redress. 

"The  third  condition  is,  the  possession  of  the  means  and  ability  where 
with  to  accomplish,  with  a  reasonable  hope  of  success,  what  they  under 
take;  for  if  they  have  not  the  ability  and  the  other  conditions  requisite  it 
becomes  a  crime  to  undertake  the  task.  It  is  at  all  times  and  under  all 
circumstances  an  immense  responsibility  to  commence  a  revolution,  an  insur 
rection,  a  rebellion,  or  by  whatever  name  it  may  be  called.  It  is  attended 
with  immense  risk  to  the  bodies  and  frequently  to  the  souls  of  those  who 
undertake  it  without  feeling  their  way  and  knowing  thoroughly  what  they 
are  about. 

"  Nevertheless,  in  the  case  to  which  I  have  referred  there  can  be  no  reproach. 
The  young  man  whose  brief  and  chequtred  career  has  come  to  an  end  in 
a  distant  land,  and  to  whose  memory  and  remains  you  pay  your  respects, 
was  one  who  was  willing  to  sacrifice — and  I  may  say  did  sacrifice  —  his 
prospects  in  life,  and  even  his  life  itself,  for  the  freedom  of  the  country 
which  he  loved  so  well,  and  which  he  knew  had  been  oppressed  for  centu 
ries.  When  the  effort  was  made  it  is  true  he  did  not  stop,  he  did  not 


THE  M-MAyuS  OBSEQUIES.  421 

dally  to  inquire  about  the  circumstances  as  laid  down  by  St.  Thomas,  but 
he  went  into  it  disinterestedly,  and  willing  to  undergo  all  the  risks  and 
responsibilities  of  the  contest. 

"But  this  is  not  all.  The  traditions  that  surround  his  name  represent 
't<m  to  us  as  a  man,  not  perhaps  of  the  most  brilliant  capacity,  but  one 
of  a  constant  heart  and  mind,  and  what  is  still  more,  one  who,  because  he 
loved  his  country,  did  not  cea*e  on  that  account  to  love  his  God. 

"Through  life,  with  whatever  imperfections  are  common  to  humanity, 
he  never  forsook  his  religion ;  he  loved  his  church  and  died  in  her  Holy  Com- 
in union.  And  it  is  for  this,  beside  the  public  honor  you  pay  to  his  remains, 
that  those  remains  are  brought  before  the  altar  of  God,  and  every  prayer 
and  solemn  rite  is  offered,  up  for  his  eternal  welfare.  This  is  the  part  of  the 
occasion  which  would  refer  to  me  more  particularly,  and  it  now  only 
remains  for  you  to  unite  your  prayers  for  the  repose  of  the  departed  soul,  and 
reflect  that,  whether  taken  away  in  the  prime  of  lite  or  at  an  advanced 
age,  all  must  reach  the  ?ame  end  at  last.  This  is  the  end  of  life,  and  if 
any  one  wishes  to  study  the  whole  of  his  nature  and  the  great  object  for 
which  God  placed  him  in  this  world,  he  will  know  that  it  is  to  do  his 
duty  to  God  aud  man,  and  by  so  doing  to  prepare  himself  for  the  enjoy 
ment  of  another  world,  in  which  there  will  be  no  insurrections,  no  oppres 
sions,  nor  tears,  nor  sorrows." 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  Archbishop's  address,  a  procession  was  form 
ed  from  the  altar  to  the  coffin,  when  his  Grace  and  the  clergy  intoned  the 
office  for  the  dead,  the  choir  assisting.  The  Archbishop  then  incensed  and 
asperged  the  coffin,  which  was  replaced  in  the  hearse  and  conveyed  to  the 
vault  in  Calvary  cemetery,  where  it  remained  until  the  time  arrived  for 
transferring  it  to  the  steamer  for  Ireland. 

For  over  a  month  the  remains  of  T.  B.  McManus  rested  in  Calvary 
cemetery.  Durirg  that  time  all  the  necessary  preparations  for  their  trans 
mission  to  Ireland  and  their  reception  there,  had  been  perfected  by  the 
Obsequies  Committees  of  New  York  and  Dublin.  It  had  been  decided  that 
they  should  leave  the  former  city  on  Saturday,  October  19th,  and  that  the 
funeral  procession  should  take  place  on  the  day  previous. 

As  the  representative  of  "Waterford,  Thomas  Francis  Meagher  was  nom 
inated  one  of  the  thirty-two  pall-bearers,  but,  as  he  was  unavoidably  absent 
from  the  procession  —  having  been  detained  in  Albany  by  Governor  Morgan 
on  business  connected  with  the  Irish  Brigade, —  his  place  in  the  funeral  was 
occupied  by  his  friend  John  Savage. 


422  %tEMO2£S  Of  GJ£2V.  THOMAS  fSANOIS  MEAGH£fi. 

He  was,  however,  present  at  the  departure  of  the  steamer  on  the  next 
day  to  take  his  last  leave  of  all  that  was  mortal  of  his  gallant  comrade. 
I  met  him  on  the  pier,  and,  as  I  was  about  to  accompany  the  remains  to 
Ireland,  and  he  was  certain  to  proceed  with  his  Brigade  to  the  seat  of 
war  before  we  could  meet  a^ain,  our  farewell  interview  was  what  may  be 
expected  under  the  circumstances. 

He  had  felt  considerably  annoyed  for  some  time  past, "by  the  manner 
In  which  Irish  demagogues  and  journalists  had  been  persistently  and  malig 
nantly  misrepresenting  him  to  the  people  there  —  in  respect  to  his  course 
on  the  war — (for  but  one  influential  national  journal  —  the  Irishman,  —  and 
but  one  of  the  leading  Confederates  of  '48,  then  in  Ireland,  P.  J.  Smith,  — 
stood  manfully  by  the  Union  in  this  crisis).  The  so-called  "liberal"  papers, 
metropolitan  and  provincial,  having  gone  as  far  as  they  dared  in  reechoing 
the  sentiments  of  the  Tory  press,  and  in  reproducing  the  calumnious  slan 
ders  and  inuendoes  circulated  by  a  kindred  gang  of  cowardly  traitors  amongst 
the  loyal  Irishmen  of  the  Northern  States — in  the  interest  of  the  South, 
and  for  the  gratification  of  their  own  envious  natures. 

In  his  great  speech,  delivered  in  the  Music  Hall.  New  York,  a  few 
days  previously,  Meagher  thus  expressed  his  opinion  of  those  Irish  inter- 
meddlers  and  their  congenial  American  i^aitors :  — 

"For  my  part  —  discharging  my  duty  as  an  American  citizen,  and  hold 
ing  myself  responsible  alone  to  the  Republic  from  which  that  citizenship 
was  derived,  and  the  God  who  was  the  implored  witness  of  my  oath  —  for 
my  part,  I  reject  with  a  disdain  which  the  veriest  meanness,  paltriness  and 
obsequiousness  could  alone  provoke,  the  opinions  of  the  Irish  politicians  on 
this  war  —  the  demagogues  and  oracles,  whether  they  be  scribblers  or  spout- 
ers,  who  intrude  their  ignorance  into  this  conflict,  and  with  their  raw 
notions  of  liberty  and  democracy  endeavor  to  wean  the  Irish-born  citizens 
of  the  American  Union  from  their  duty  to  the  laws,  the  magistracy,  and 
the  sovereignty  of  the  Republic  from  which  they  derive  the  only  political 
consequence  they  have  ever  as  yet  possessed. 

"  Indeed,  I  should  not  have  wasted  one  syllable  in  the  repudiation  of 
the  drivelling  commentators  who,  from  their  dungeons  and  obscurity,  look 
out  upon  and  scrutinize  the  trials  of  a  nation  which,  consecrated  to  peace, 
was  so  remotely  disposed  and  so  inadequately  prepared  for  war  —  I  should 


THE  McMANUS    OBSEQUIES.  423 

not  have  wasted  one  syllable  in  the  repudiation  of  these  abject,  inane,  and 
melancholy  drivellers,  if  it  had  not  been,  that  here,  in  this  very  city, 
they  have  had  for  their  sophistries  something  like  an  influential  reiteration. 
You  know  it  well.  Every  body  who  hears  me  will  confirm  the  assertion. 
There  are  men  in  this  city,  there  are  indeed,  men  throughout  the  North  in 
every  State,  town,  village,  ward  and  parish  of  it — whose  business  it  is,  in 
their  peculiarly  sly  way,  to  disparage  the  National  cause,  extenuate  or  exalt 
the  South,  and  worming  themselves  amongst  the  Democrac5r,  arrest  and  im 
pede  the  enlistment  under  the  National  banners  of  those  brave  fellows  who 
have  no  other  instinct  but  to  be  where  the  Stars  and  Stripes  demand  their 
services." 

Being  aware  of  his  sensitiveness  regarding  the  attitude  of  the  Irish  peo 
ple  on  the  war,  and  his  position  therein,  I  assured  him  that,  soon  after 
our  arrival  in  Ireland,  it  would  be  made  manifest  to  the  world  that  those 
impudent  traducers  of  the  National  character  to  whom  he  referred,  spoke 
but  their  own  slavish  preferences,  and  those  of  the  canting,  hypocritical 
cl.iss  who  were  always  opposed  to  the  National  sentiment  except  where  it 
suited  their  personal  interests  to  assume  the  role  of  patriots,  and  that,  as  we 
knew,  —  better  than  any  other  living  men  —  the  motives  that  actuated  him 
in  assuming  the  position  he  held  in  the  controversy  —  our  brothers  in  Ire 
land  should  know  it  too  —  and  then  let  his  maligners  there  continue  their 
work  —  if  they  dare. 

And  so  we  parted — for  the  time  —  with  high  hopes  for  the  cause  of 
liberty  in  our  native  and  adopted  land. 

IRELAND'S  ATTITUDE  ON  THE  AMERICAN  QUESTION. 

The  McManus  funeral,  as  a  demonstration  of  National  sentiment  and 
National  power,  was  a  grand  success  —  despite  the  efforts  of  the,  so-called, 
Irish  Liberal  Journals,  who  tried  to  "throw  cold  water"  upon  it — and  on 
every  other  manifestation  of  the  National  spirit — after  their  slippery  fashion, 
and  who,  on  the  American  question,  tried  to  turn  the  sympathy  of  th^ir 
readers  Irom  the  side  to  which  they  were  led  by  instinct,  reason,  and  affec 
tion  ;  a  side  in  which  thousands  of  their  kith  and  kin  were  engaged,  and 
on  the  success  of  which  they  believed  that  the  hope  of  achieving  the  lib 
erty  of  their  native  land,  hi  a  great  measure,  depended. 

To    stem    the    tide    of    calumny   which    the    pro-British    organs    and    their 


424  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

Irish  toadies  were  directing  against  the  cause  of  "Union  and  Liberty,"  the 
Nationalists  of  the  Irish  metropolis  requested  Colonel  Doheny,  of  the  Amer 
ican  Delegation,  to  deliver  an  address  on  the  subject  which  then  occupied 
the  attention  of  tyrant  and  patriot,  freeman  and  slave,  the  world  over,  and 
in  response  thereto,  the  Colonel,  on  the  18th  of  November,  delivered  a  lec 
ture  in  the  Theatre  of  the  Mechanic's  Institute,  Dublin,  on 

"THE  PRESENT  ASPECT  OP  AMERICAN  AFFAIRS." 

The  concluding  sentence  of  that  eloquent  appeal  was  most  enthusiasti 
cally  applauded  by  the  discriminative  audience :  — 

"They  who  drag  a  single  star  from  that  sacred  constellation  of  liberty 
should  have  the  hand  of  every  man  against  them.  They  would  have  against 
them  the  prayers  of  every  man.  Irom  the  Ehine  to  the  Danube,  who  pined 
in  a  dungeon,  died  on  the  field,  or  perished  on  the  block  in  the  sacred 
cause  of  liberty." 

This  lecture  was  subsequently  repeated  by  Colonel  Doheny  in  other  por 
tions  of  Ireland.  He  thus  served  to  prepare  the  public  mind  for  the  great 
National  demonstration  of  sympathy  with  America  which  the  Irish  Revolution 
ary  Brotherhood,  under  the  leadership  of  James  Stevens,  and  in  conjunction 
with  the  American  Fenian  representatives,  got  up  in  Dublin  a  few  weeks 
later,  when,  on  account  of  the  peremptory  demand  made  by  the  British 
Government  for  the  surrender  ot  Mason  and  Slidel,  war  between  England 
and  America  was  considered  inevitable  by  the  friends  and  foes  of  both 
nations  in  Ireland. 

That  the  British  government  were  inclined  to  recognize  the  Southern 
States,  even  after  they  knew  that  Mason  and  Slidell  were  to  be  given  up, 
was  made  apparent  from  the  jeering  and  defiant  tone  of  the  chief  organs 
of  both  political  parties  in  England. 

These  taunts  and  threats  brought  the  manhood  of  Ireland  to  their  feet, 
and  they  determined  to  give  them  the  lie  direct  —  so  far  as  their  country 
was  concerned.  So  the  meeting  was  held  in  their  metropolis,  the  sympathy 
of  the  Nation  declared  to  be  in  favor  of  the  American  Union,  the  English 
government  defied,  and  dared  to  attempt  the  carrying  out  of  their  nefarious 
designs  on  the  great  bulwark  of  human  freedom. 

This  timely  warning  did  not  pass  unheeded.  The  partizans  of  the  govern 
ment  in  Ireland,  terrified  at  the  unexpected  display  of  national  power  and 
organized  discipline  manifested  in  the  McManus  demonstration  in  Cork  and 


DEPAETUEE   OF  THE  IRISH  BEIGADE.  426 

Dublin,  felt  that  they  were  standing  on  a  rumbling  volcano,  and  so  warned 
their  masters  and  protectors.  The  result  was  that  the  "  British  Lion "  — 
though  snarling  and  showing  his  decayed  fangs,  kept  his  distance,  and  let 
the  Americans  fight  it  out. 


CHAPTER  LXIII. 


DEPAETUEE  OF  THE  IEISH   BEIGADE.  —  FLAG  PEESENTATIONS.  — 
MEAGHEE  AND  SHIELDS. 

"Oh,  land  »f  true  freedom!    Oh,   land  of  our  love, 

With  your  generous  welcome  to  all  who  but  seek  It;  — 
May  your  stars  shine  as  lorg  as  the  twlnklers  above, 

And  your  fame  be  so  grand  that  no  mortal  can  speak  itl 
All  the  winds  of  the  world  as   'round  it  they  blow, 

No  banner   to  glorious   can  wake  Info  motion; 
And  with  peace  in  our  «wu  land,  you  know  we  may  go 

Just  to  settle  some  trifling  accounts  o'er  the  ocean! 

CHAKLES  G    HALPINB. 

AFTER  three  months'  unwearied  exertion,  in  which  many  annoying  im 
pediments  were  encountered,  Meagher  had  the  Irish  Brigade  ready  for  march 
ing  orders.  It  consisted  of  three  regiment  of  Infantry  and  two  batteries  of 
artillery  —  all  New  York  troops;  —  for  the  Governors  of  Massachusetts  and 
Pennsylvania,  refused  to  allow  the  Irish  commands  recruited  in  those  States, 
to  join  it. 

The  First  Eegiment  of  the  Irish  Brigade  was  designated  the  69th  N. 
Y.  V.,  of  which  Lieut.-Colonel  Eobert  Nugent  (of  the  old  69th)  was  Col 
onel;  James  Kelly,  Lieut.-Colocel ;  and  James  Cavanagh,  Major. 

(The  "  Sec«nd "  place  in  the  organization  was  intended  for  the  Boston 
regiment). 

The  "Third"  was  the  63d  N.  Y.  V..  Eichard  C.  Enwright,  Colonel; 
Henry  Fowler,  Lieut.-Colonel;  and  Thomas  F.  Lynch,  Major. 

The  "  Fourth""  was  the  88th  N.  Y.  V.,  Henry  M.  Baker,  Colonel ;  Pat 
rick  Kelly,  Lieut. -Colonel;  and  James  Quinlan,  Major. 


426  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS    FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

The  two  Batteries  of  Artillery  were  commanded  by  Captain  William  H. 
Hogan,  and  Captain  Henry  J.  McMahon. 

The  69th  left  New  York  for  Washington  on  the  18th  of  November, 
1861,  the  63d  on  the  28th  of  that  mouth,  and  the  SSth  with  the  Batteries 
on  the  16th  of  December. 

Previous  to  the  departure  of  the  69th,  each  regiment  of  the  Brigade 
was  presented,  by  the  ladies  of  New  York,  with  an  American  and  an  Irish 
flag,  together  with  the  usual  regimental  guidons.  The  "  Green  Flag"  was 
emblazoned  with  the  national  emblems  —  the  "Sunburst,"  "Harp,"  and  ''Sham 
rock-wreath."  The  ancient  Gaelic  motto  on  its  scroll  was  furnished  by  the 
eminent  Irish  scholar,  John  O'Mahony,  who  adopted  it  from  Oisiu,  the 
Fenian  bard. 

The  heroes  for  whom  that  motto  was  selected  proved  how  appropriate 
it  was  by  their  fidelity  to  its  injunction.* 

The  presentation  of  the  flags  took  place  in  front  of  the  residence  of 
Archbishop  Hughes,  on  Madison  Avenue.  It  had  originally  been  intended 
that  the  Archbishop  should  make  the  presentation  in  person;  but  he  had 
been  hurriedly  dispatched  to  Europe  by  the  Government  on  an  important 
mission,  and  in  his  absence  the  Vicar-General,  Dr.  Starrs,  officiated. 

JUDGE  DALY  presented  the  flags  to  the  69th  in  a  spirited  and  effective 
speech,  in  which  he  recalled  many  historic  attestations  of  Irish  valor  when 
regulated  by  discipline,  as  stimulating  examples  to  those  he  was  addressing. 


*i'Rlamh  nar  dhruid  o  spalrn  lann!"  1.  e.  "Never  retreat  from  the  clash  of  spears!" 
The    original   idea    from    which    this    phrase    was   derived    Is   embodied    in   a  stanz*  of 
a  poem  attributed  to  Oisin,  entitled  the    "  Agailamh!  "—  ("  A  Dialogue  Between  Oisin  and 
St.  Patrick."] 

The  Saint  having  asserted  that   all   the    bard's  old  associates  were  In  hell,  beciase  of 
their  unbelief  In  the  true  God,  the  incredulous  old  Pagan  iudiKuautiy  retoited:  — 
•'Do  m-biadh   Fionn  agam  a's  Macau-Loin  — 

Dias  nar  dhruid  o  ghleo  na-lann; 
D'  Jtimdheoln  do  chliar  agus  a  g-cloig, 
Is  agulnn  do  bbeilheadb,  an  bail." 

Which  may  be  thin  rendered  into  English  verae :  — 

"Were  Flonn  and  Mac  an  Loin  with  me,— 

(Two  who  ne'er  shunned  the  clash  of  spears;) 
Despite  thy  clerics,  beils  and  thee  — 

We'd    hold  —  where  Satan  domineers." 

"Macau-Loin" —  the  naue  of  Flon  MacOumhall's  spear. 


tiEPAETUKE    OF    THE   IRISH  BRIGADE  427 

He  concluded  by  a  well-merited  tribute  to  Colonel  Corcoran,  pointing  him 
out  as  an  Irish  example  of  the  faith  and  fidelity  that  is  due  by  a  soldier 
to  his  flag,  "for,  though  now  within  the  walls  of  a  Southern  prison  that 
gallant  soldier  had  the  satisfaction  of  feeling  that  he  owed  his  sad  yet 
proud  preeminence  to  having  acted  as  became  a  descendant  of  barsfield." 

COLONEL  NUGENT  received  the  colors  on  bolialf  of  his  regiment,  and 
thanked  the  lady  donors  in  a  brief  but  appropriate  speech. 

ME.  MALCOLM  CAMPBELL  then  led  forward  MRS.  THOMAS  FRANCIS 
MEAGHER,  who,  with  a  charming  dignity,  presented  a  like  set  of  Irish  and 
American  colors  to  the  88th  Regiment,  N.  Y.  V.,  of  Fourth  Regiment  Irish 
Brigade.  Mr.  Campbell  then  on  her  behalf,  and  that  of  the  other  lady  don 
ors,  addressed  the  regiment  in  a  spirit-stirring  speech  winding  up  with  the 
impassioned  hope  of  THOMAS  DAVIS  — 

"That,  In  some  day  to  come  the  "Green"  shall  flutter  o'er  the  "Red." 

MR.  JOHN  T.  DOYLE,  leading  Miss  MARY  DEVLIN,  presented  the  standards 
to  the  Artillery  in  an  el«  quent  speech,  which  was  responded  to  by  THOMAS 
FRANCIS  MEAGHER,  then  Colonel  of  the  10th  Artillery,  and  the  Acting-Chief 
of  the  Irish  Brigade. 

The  63d  had  their  colors  presented  to  them  at  their  camp  on  David's 
Island  by  HON.  "WILLIAM  E.  ROBINSON. 

On  the  23d  of  November  Meagher  sent  the  following  telegram  from 
Washington :  — 

"The  69th  — the  First  Regiment  of  the  Irish  Brigade  — were  reviewed  yes 
terday  by  General  Casey,  along  with  four  regiments  from  Pennsylvania  and 
Maine.  The  appearance  of  the  'new  69th'  was  extraordinarily  perfect  and 
brilliant.  The  'Irish  Brigade'  leads  the  way  in  the  National  Army,  in  the 
hopes  and  hearts  of  the  Government  and  people  of  the  American  Republic. 
War  with  England  is  imminent:  the  Irish  Brigade  will  be  the  first  to  meet 
the  nuisic.  The  Fourth  and  Fifth  Regiments  must  hold  themselves  in  readi 
ness  for  marching  orders.  Ireland's  day  has  come! 

"THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER." 

When  the  loyal  citizens  of  the  United  States  hailed  with  universal  jubi 
lation  the  action  of  Captain  Wilkes,  in  taking  the  Confederate  Envoys 
Mason  and  Slidell,  from  oft'  an  English  jsteanier  on  the  high  seas,  and  when 
Congress  endorsed  the  deed  of  that  gallant  officer  by  passing  a  vote  of 


428  MEMO  JUS    OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

thanks  in  his  honor;  when  the  country  was  left  for  over  a  month  under 
the  impression  that  this  attitude  was  proper  and  dignified  —  becoming  the 
honor  of  the  Nation  —  less  impressible  men  than  Meagher  might  be  excused 
for  crediting  the  Government  with  more  consistency  than  they  exhibited 
when  put  to  the  test  in  that  diplomatic  game  of  "  bluff"  by  their  wily 
"Anglo-Saxon  cousins"  —  over  the  water. 

MEAGHER  AND  SHIELDS. 

On  the  16th  of  December  the  Fourth  and  Fifth  Regiments  of  the  Brigade, 
under  command  of  Meagher,  left  New  York  for  Washington,  and  two  days 
after  the  88th  joined  the  69th,  and  63d  at  "Camp  California."  on  the  Fair 
fax  turnpike  near  Alexandria,  The  "Batteries"  were  detained  for  instruc 
tion  at  the  artillery  camp  near  Washington. 

Up  to  this  time  no  answer  had  been  received  from  General  Shields  in 
relation  to  the  offer  made  him  to  take  command  of  the  Irish  Brigade.  He 
had  left  California  for  Mexico  before  the  news  of  his  appointment  could 
reach  him,  and  it  was  not  until  some  mouths  after  that  he  received  the 
communication.  In  the  meantime  it  was  rumored  that  he  would  not  accept 
the  position  of  Brigadier- General  of  Volunteers  —  as  it  was  beneath  the  rank 
he  formerly  held  in  the  service.  Though  this  rumor  was  unfounded  in  fact, 
and  was,  most  probably,  circulated  for  nefarious  purposes,  yet  it  was  plaus 
ible,  and  received  some  credit  among  the  officers  of  the  Brigade,  who  there 
upon  turned  to  Meagher  as  the  man  of  their  choice  to  lead  the  command 
which  he  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  organizing. 

As  a  preliminary  step  in  this  direction,  a  meeting  of  the  officers  of 
the  "Fourth"  and  "Fifth"  Regiments  of  the  Brigade  was  held  at  For: 
Schuyler  on  the  evening  before  their  departure  for  Washington,  Colonel  H. 
M.  Baker  in  the  chair,  and  Captain  Maxwell  O'Sullivan,  Secretary,  "for  tb/ 
purpose  of  giving  an  expression  of  opinion  as  to  the  appointment  of  Colonel 
Meagher  to  a  Brigadier's  office."  The  following  preamble  and  resolutions 
were  unanimously  adopted :  — 

"  Firmly  impressed,  as  all  the  officers  of  the  Irish  Brigade  are,  with 
the  absolute  necessity  of  the  appointment  of  Colonel  Thomas  Francis  Meagher, 
of  the  10th  Regiment  of  Artillery,  to  the  Brigadier-Generalship,  both  from 
the  very  decided  feeling  of  the  men  of  their  commands  on  the  subject,  as 
well  as  to  the  patent  fact  that  to  him,  his  influence,  .eloquence  and  worth, 
the  existence  of  the  Brigade  is  solely  and  entirely  owing, 

".Resoled,   That    a    deputation    from    the    Eighty-eighth    and  Tenth  Regi- 


MEAGIIER  AND   SHIELDS.  429 

ments,  consisting  of  the  field,  staff  and  line  officers  of  the  two  Regiments,  be 
requested  to  wait  on  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  submit  to 
him  the  reasons  why  the  above  appointment  is  considered  of  vital  importance 
to  the  successful  efforts  of  the  Brigade  in  the  field,  and  to  impress  on  him 
that  the  officers  of  the  Briga.ie  are  altogether  influenced  by  the  most  heart 
felt  desire  of  serving  their  adopted  country  most  efficaciously,  by  requesting 
an  early  and  carelul  investigation  into  the  claims  of  Thomas  F.  Meagher 
to  the  above  command." 

On  the  19th  of  December,  a  deputation  of  the  officers  of  the  Brigade 
waited  on  President  Lincoln  to  urge  Meagher's  appointment  as  the  choice 
of  the  whole  Brigade.  They  were  introduced  by  Senator  Preston  King,  and 
ably  seconded  by  General  Frank  P.  Blair.  The  result  was  that,  on  next 
day  the  President  sei.t  the  name  of  Thomas  Francis  Meagher  to  the  Senate 
for  confirmation  for  the  position  of  Brigadier-General  of  Volunteers  in  the 
service  of  the  Union. 

But  a  secret  clique  was  at  work  to  defeat  Meagher's  confirmation,  it 
was,  most  likely,  the  same  jealous,  selfish  plotters  woo  circulated  the  false 
reports  concert. ing  General  Shields  in  connection  with  the  Brigadier-Gener 
alship,  for  now  they  brought  forward  the  old  veteran's  name  again,  cham 
pioning  his  claim  as  against  that  of  Meagher,  and  insidiously  charging  the 
latter  with  supplanting  the  older  and  more  experienced  soldier,  and  thus 
causing  the  loss  of  his  valuable  services  to  the  Union.  By  this  contempt 
ible  course,  the  plotters  hoped  to  influence  Shields's  friends  in  the  Senate 
against  Meagher,  but  they  were  foiled  by  the  opportune  arrival  in  Wash 
ington  of  the  old  hero  on  whose  reputation  they  traded. 

Shields  made  his  appearance  in  the  capital  on  the  5th  of  January,  and 
his  powerful  iLfluence  with  the  Senate  was  promptly  used  in  Meagher's 
favor.  The  officers  of  the  Irish  Biigade  serenaded  the  veteran  at  his  hotel, 
and  presented  him  with  an  address.  In  his  reply  thereto,  he  confounded 
the  scheming  hypocrites  who  sought  to  create  dissention  between  himself  and 
Meagher  —  by  making  the  following  public  statement:  — 

•k  I  am  very  glad  to  meet,  on  this  occasion,  you,  officers  of  the  '  Irish 
Brigade,'  and  I  wish  to  say  a  few  words  relative  to  myself  and  the  Bri 
gade.  I  was  in  the  Western  States  of  Mexico,  endeavoring  to  recruit  my 
shattered  health,  when  I  received  intelligence  of  my  appointment  as  General 
of  the  Irish  Brigade.  I  at  once  replied  to  that  communication  —  my  answer 
is  on  file  in  the  Department;  —  I  did  not  decline  the  appointment,  as  my 
answer  will  show.  I  said  my  health  was  in  a  ba'd  state — that  I  was  not 


430  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

then  fit  for  anything;  but  that  I  would  report  at  Washington  in  person- 
As  soon  as  possible  I  returned  to  California  and  took  the  first  vessel  for 
the  North.  On  my  arrival  in  New  York,  I  was  waited  on  by  various  gen 
tlemen  friends  of  mine,  and  was  sorry  to  find  that  there  was  a  misunder 
standing  relative  to  General  Meagher  arid  myself.  I  told  them,  and  I  tell 
you  now,  that  I  have  no  better  friend  than  Thomas  Francis  Meagher.  He 
is  a  high-minded,  honorable  and  brave  man ;  and  if  I  had  any  doubt  of 
his  fidelity  and  friendship  for  me  —  which  I  never  had  —  that  doubt  would 
be  removed  by  what  the  President  said  to  me  yesterday,  when  he  informed 
me  that  it  was  at  the  request  of  Thomas  Francis  Meagher  I  was  appointed 
Brigadier-General. 

"I  know  General  Meagher  well.  You  did  right  in  -selecting  him  to 
command  your  Brigade;  he  is  much  better  qualified  for  that  position  than 
three-fourths  of  the  men  who  have  been  appointed  to  similar  commands; 
he  has  the  right  stuff  in  him,  and  he  will  bring  it  out  at  the  right  time. 
In  honoring  him  you  honor  me,  you  honor  yourselves.  I  again  thank  you 
for  your  kind  attentions  to  me,  and  hope  to  have  the  "Irish  Brigade," 
with  its  gallant  Brigadier,  at  some  future  day  in  my  division  of  the  army." 

A  few  days  later  another  deputation  of  the  officers  of  the  "Irish  Bii- 
gade"  waited  on  General  Shields  to  thank  him  for  the  aid  he  had  given 
towards  securing  the  confirmation  of  General  Meagher  by  his  personal  influ 
ence  with  the  United  States  Senate.  On  that  occasion,  Meagher,  —  address 
ing  his  gallant  and  true-hearted  old  country  man  —  said  :  — 

"General  Shields,  I  have  accompanied  the  officers  of  the  'Irish  Brigade,' 
to  thank  you  in  person  for  your  kind  remembrance  of  me,  in  this  gener 
ous  and  unsolicited  act.  It  was  unexpected.  I  did  not  expect,  after  your 
public  indorsement  of  me  a  few  evenings  ago,  that  you  would  again  renew 
your  kindness  towards  me  in  so  tmphatic  a  manner.  Much  as  I  appreci 
ate  your  kindness  on  my  own  account,  be  assured  I  do  so  more  for  the 
sake  of  those  gallant  and  brave  gentlemen  who  have  so  unreservedly  placed 
their  confidence  in  me.  I  will  only  add  that  I  trust  we  shall  soon  see  an 
Irish  Division,  with  you,  sir,  for  its  Major-General.  —  in  which  hope  I  know 
every  officer  and  member  of  the  'Irish  Brigade'  most  cordiadially  joins." 

To  these  words,  —  so  characteristic  of  the  generous,  impulsive  nature 
of  Meagher,  General  Shields  replied  as  follows:  — 

u  What  I  have  done  was  no  more  than  my  duty,  —  my  duty  to  Gen. 
Meagher  and  the  public.  I  know  that  he  possesses  all  the  qualities  neces- 


MEAGHES  AND    SHIELDS.  431 

sary  to  make  a  good  General,  and  only  wants  the  practice  and  opportunity 
to  develop  the  powers  I  know  him  to  possess. 

"When  I  was  in  the  mountains  of  Mexico  —  forgotten  by  the  Govern 
ment —  my  friend,  Meagher,  did  not  forget  me.  He  showed  me  that  there 
was  one  kind,  generous  heart  that  still  remembered  an  old  friend.  He  called 
the  attention  of  the  President  to  me,  and  I  was  appointed  to  a  high  posi 
tion  in  the  army. 

'•No  one  has  dared,  in  my  presence  to  oppose  his  qualification  for  the 
position  of  Brigadier-General ;  I  would  not  listen  to  them  if  they  did.  No 
matter  how  it  might  be  attempted,  they  cannot  estrange  us;  we  love  each 
other  too  well  for  that ;  we  have  to«  many  purposes  in  common  which  bind 
our  hearts  together.  We  look  beyond  this  present  dispute  to  «  glorious  future  for 
another  land,  when  the  differences  now  existing  here  shall  have  been  hap 
pily  ended. 

"  I  know  that  some  little  opposition  has  been  attempted  against  Gene 
ral  Meagher's  confirmation,  and  that  it  has  been  insinuated  that  he  ought 
to  give  way  to  me.  I,  however,  never  desired  it;  it  is  not  necessary.  He 
is  entitled  to  the  position  for  which  you  have  recommended  him;  and  when 
you  nominated  him  as  your  Brigadier-General  you  did  right.  I  approv 
ed  of  it  the  moment  I  heard  it.  You  could  not  have  done  otherwise.  You 
had  not  heard  from  me;  you  believed  I  had  declined  it;  and  I  am  proud 
that  you  have  placed  him  in  the  position  you  have.  I  would  say  to  the 
'Irish  Brigade'  be  sober,  be  obedient.  Temperance  is  a  vital  necessity  in 
the  army.  Let  whiskey  alone  while  the  war  lasts ;  and  when  victory  crowns 
our  efforts  —  as  it  assuredly  will  —  we  can  all  take  a  jorum  together  in  true 
Irish  style." 

"  Turning  to  General  Meagher,  the  glorious  old  veteran  grasped  him 
cordially  by  the  hand,  and  continued:  — 

"No,  Meagher,  they  can  never  estrange  you  and  me;  we  understand 
each  other  too  well  for  that;  and  I  trust  the  love  of  brothers  will  always 
exist  between  us.  We,  Irish,  are  a  great  race,  capable  of  great  deeds;  but, 
unfortunately,  in  small  matters,  we  are  too  apt  to  break  up  into  little  con 
temptible  cliques  and  factions.  But,  with  all  our  faults,  if  left  to  ourselves, 
there  is  something  noble  and  generous  in  us." 


432  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 


CHAPTER   LXIV. 


MEAGHER   COMMISSIONED   BRIGADIER   GENERAL.  —  ADDRESS  TO 

HIS   OFFICERS.  —  THE    IRISH    BRIGADE 

AT  FAIR  OAKS. 

"  Prompt  at  the  gathering  summons, 

True  as  the  lifted  steel, 
Into  the  foremost  phalanx, 

See  where  their  columns  wheel."  —  ENCTL. 

ON  February  3d,  1SG2,  the  United  States  Senate  confirmed  the  nomina 
tion  of  Thomas  Francis  Meagher  as  Brigadier-General.  Five  days  after  he 
received  the  following  notification  from  the  War  Department:  — 


"  HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  o/  THE  POTOMAC. 
Washington,   February  8th,   1862. 


AC.  } 
2.      ) 
"Special   Orders,  ") 
No.  38.          ) 

••Brigadier-General  THOMAS  F.  MEAGHER,  Volunteer  Service,  will  report 
to  Brig.  -General  EDWIN  V.  SUBINER,  U.  S.  A.,  for  assignment  by  him  to  the 
command  of  a  Brigade  of  his  Division. 

"  By  command  of  MAJOR-GENERAL  MOCLELLAN. 
"J.  WILLIAMS, 

u  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 
"GENERAL  MEAGHER." 

In  compliance  with  the  foregoing  order,  General  Meagher  reported  in 
person  at  General  Sumner's  Headquarters,  Camp  California,  and,  by  the 
annexed  order,  was  officially  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  "Irish  Bri 
gade  :"—  » 


COMMISSIONED  BRIGADIER  GENERAL.  433 

"  HEADQUARTERS   SUMNER'S   DIVISION, 

Camp   California,   Feb.   llth,   1862. 
"Special  Orders, 

No.   14. 

"Brigadier- Gen.  Thomas  F.  Meagher,  Volunteer  Service,  having  reported 
to  these  Head  Qrs.  for  assignment  in  accordance  Special  Order  No.  38,  Hd. 
Qrs.  Army  of  the  Potomac,  Feb.  8th,  1862,  is  hereby  assigned  to  the  com 
mand  of  the  2nd  (Irish)  Brigade  of  this  Division. 

"By   order  ot   GEN.   HEINTZELMAN. 
"1.  W.   TAYLOR, 

"Capt.   U.    S.    A., 

"A.   A.   A.    C." 

On  General  Meagher  receiving  his  commission  he  rode  out  from  "VVashirg- 
ton  to  Camp  California,  and  formally  assumed  command  of  the  Irish  Brigade. 
He  was  accompanied  by  General  Shields  and  a  brilliant  array  of  military 
men,  and  by  a  number  of  civilian  friends,  all  of  whom  rejoiced  at  his  well- 
merited  promotion.  The  occasion  was  celebrated  in  the  camp  with  due 
honors.  There  was  a  grand  review  and  dress  parade  of  the  Brigade.  Gen 
eral  Shields  was  the  reviewing  officer,  and  addressed  the  Brigade  in  words 
of  soldierly  advice  and  patri  >tic  import.  After  the  review  the  officers  of 
the  Brigade  gave  a  banquet  to  their  beloved  General  and  his  friends. 

When  the  health  of  the  "Chief  of  the  Irish  Brigade"  was  proposed,  it 
was  received  with  unbounded  enthusiasm.  In  his  response,  General  Meagher 
thanked  his  officers  and  men  for  this  proof  of  their  affection,  after  which 
he  spoke  as  follows,  on  the  duties  and  hopes,  the  aspirations  and  responsi 
bilities  attaching  to  his  and  their  positions  as  Irish  American  soldiers :  — 

"I  shall  say  nothing  of  the  final  hazard  upon  which,  in  assuming  the 
command  of  the  'Irish  Brigade,'  my  own  fortunes  and  name  are  irrevocably 
staked.  Personal  considerations,  even  of  a  nature  so  vital  and  an  aspect  so 
agitating,  are  subordinate  to  those  which  develop  themselves  from  the  obli 
gation  I  acknowledge  of  the  American  nation  and.  its  cause,  —  to  the  Irish 
race  and  its  military  reputation,  —  and  to  this  Brigade,  its  welfare  and  its  t 
honor.  It  is  not,  surely,  ascribing  an  exaggerated  importance,  nor  attaching 
fictitious  liabilities  to  the  command  of  the  'Irish  Brigade,'  when  I  assert 
that  the  interests  and  consequences  to  the  American  nation,  so  far  as  the 
conduct  of  three  thousand  armed  men  can  afl'ect  them,  —  are  involved  in  it, 
and  that,  so  far,  I  am  responsible.  Nor  is  it  less  or  more  than  the  sheer 
truth  to  remind  you  that  the  military  reputation  of  the  Irish  race  is,  in  the 


434  MEMOIRS   OF  GEHf.    THOMAS    FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

opening  story  of  this,  your  Brigade,  equally  involved.  The  blundering  or 
the  wavering,  —  any  conspicuous  irregularity,  —  any  want  of  steadiness  or 
decision  on  the  part  of  the  Brigade,  at  some  eventlul  moment,  would  reflect 
discredit,  and  might  entail  disaster  on  the  army  of  the  American  nation;  — 
and,  in  speaking  of  the  American  nation,  it  will  be  understood,  as  I  know 
it  will  be  codially  approved,  that  I  recognize  no  nation  with  that  high 
title,  whose  shield  and  crest  of  sovereignty  fail  to  exhibit  the  four-and-" 
thirty  stars  which,  in  their  expanding  constellation  have  announced  and 
typified  its  progress.  In  like  manner,  and  with  even  yet  a  more  fatal  influ 
ence,  would  such  grave  errors  or  violation  of  duty  reflect  upon  and  wound 
the  quick  pride,  if  it  would  not  break  the  heart;,  of  tne  people,  the  Green 
Flag  of  whose  proscribed,  but  promised  nationality,  we  carry  into  this  war,  in 
honored  and  hopeful  companionship  with  the  '  Stars  and  Stripes.' 

"  Truthfully  and  inspiringly  did  my  generous  and  chivalrous  friend  Gen 
eral  James  Shields,  the  other  day,  observe  that  the  honor  of  two  nations 
was  committed  to  the  zealous  custody  and  vindication  of  the  '  Irish  Brigade,' 
and  that,  whilst,  in  the  blended  flags  of  those  two  nations,  the  Brigade  had 
a  double  incentive  to  distinguish  itself,  it  had  likewise  a  double  obligation 
of  which  it  should  be  ever  watchful  and  eager  to  acquit  itself. 

********* 

uAs  for  the  soldiers  of  the  Brigade  — the  three  thousand  ready,  sturdy 
hearty,  fiery,  headlong,  fearless  fellows,  whose  bayonets  are  to  clear  a  way 
for  the  returning  authority  of  the  American  Republic,  —  the  familiar  knowl 
edge  I  have  of  their  readiness  to  obey,  their  aptitude  to  learn,  and  their 
zeal  in  the  execution  of  the  more  perilous  duties  of  the  service, — a  knowl 
edge  gathered  from  my  intercourse  with  them,  day  after  day,  in  the  recruit 
ing  offices  and  the  fort  where  they  were  gradually  mustered,  —  until  they 
reached  a  force  of  three  thousand  men,  —  this  knowledge  also  inspires  me 
with  confidence. 

"  One  promise,  however,  —  despite  all  my  natural  misgivings  as  to  my  own 
qualifications  for  a  high  command,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  give.  Strict  attention 
to  the  condition  and  requirements  of  the  Brigade,  thorough  devotion  to  its  in 
terests,  and  the  liveliest  solicitude  at  all  times,  for  all  that  concerns  its  health, 
its  happiness,  its  efficiency,  and  its  good  name ;  —  special  care  of  the  sick, 
and  a  determination  that  the  humblest  soldier  shall  have  in  me  a  protectcr 
whilst  he  has  a  superior,  and  a  friend  in  whom  he  can  trust  whilst  he  has 
a  chief  to  whom  he  must  submit ;  —  these,  at  all  events,  shall  characterize 
my  leadership  of  the  Irish  Brigade;  and  so  far  I  can  pledge  myself  to  be 
serviceable  to  it. 


COMMISSIONED  BEIGADIEE  GENEEAL.  435 

"But  another  consideration,  besides  those  I  have  mentioned,  has  affected 
me.  In  the  presence  of  General  Shields, — one  to  whom  rightfully  belongs  the 
command  of  the  Irish  Brigade,  —  who,  as  an  Irish  soldier,  —  the  first  and  most 
illustrious  in  the  Republic,  who  has  won  his  title  to  such  a  command,  not 
.only  by  the  most  conspicuous  display  of  bravery,  but  by  the  acquisition  of 
miiitary  history,  military  science,  and  what  I  may  call  the  philosophy  of 
great  military  movements,  —  studies  in  which  his  sagacious  mind  delights  to 
indulge,  —  in  the  presence  of  such  an  Irishman  I  feel  abashed  in  taking  the 
position  to  which  you,  gentlemen,  have  insisted  upon  lifting  me,  and  have 
done  so  with  such  a  burst  of  exultation. 

"  I  am  reconciled,  however,  to  what  might  seem,  on  my  part,  to  be, 
in  his  presence,  a  most  ungracious  and  unjust  assumption,  by  the  conviction 
that  a  loftier  and  worthier  position  awaits  him,  and  that  I  shall  have  the 
privilege  and  advantage  of  serving  under  him,  as  a  subordinate,  in  an  Irish 
Division,  of  which  he  shall  be  the  chief.  In  any  case,  I  shall  look  to  him 
constantly  for  advice,  for  instruction,  for  encouragement;  and  whilst  it  shall 
be  my  ambition  to  imitate  his  endurance  and  intrepidity  in  the  field,  it  shall 
be  no  less  my  ambition  to  emulate  him  in  his  love  of  work,  his  diligence, 
and  the  other  less  brilliant,  but  no  less  essential  qualities  which  render  a 
soldier's  life  a  life  of  exemplary  usefulness,  and  moral  as  well  as  intellec 
tual  improvement.  Nor  shall  his  generous  friendship  for  me,  manifested  as 
it  has  been  recently,  in  so  prompt  and  decisive  a  manner,  be  ever  forgot 
ten  by  me.  The  recollection  of  it,  whilst  it  teaches  me  that  there  is  some 
sterling  truthfulness  still  flowing  in  the  midst  of  the  falsehood  and  perfidy 
which  have  been  the  peculiar  visitation  of  our  confiding  race, — will  ani 
mate  me, — in  scenes  far  different  from  that,  in  the  light  and  joyfulness  of 
which  I  now  speak,  —  with  the  assurance  that,  if  I  but  do  my  duty  well, 
there  will  be  one  staunch  friend^  at  least  to  do  me  justice. 

********* 

"  But  whilst  with  these  views  discharging  honestly  and  zealously  our  duty 
to  the  Government  of  the  American  Republic,  there  is  for  us,  Irishmen,  an 
animating  thought.  Foreign  intervention,  foreign  rule,  civil  strife,  sectarian 
conflicts,  the  sword  of  invaders,  the  torch  and  faggot  of  the  religious  perse 
cutor,  penal  laws,  periodical  famines  —  to  whatever  scourge  or  plague  it  may 
be  ascribed,  the  race  which  is  represented  here  in  arms  this  night  has  been 
stripped  of  all  its  functions  and  insignia  as  a  sovereign  element  in  the 
authentic  transactions  of  the  world.  Politically  considered,  it  is  a  subjugated, 
if  it  be  not  an  obliterated  race.  In  the  higher  achievements  of  genius,  how 
ever,  in  the  arts  that  anij»*te,  improve,  adorn,  illuminate,  and  glorify  the 


436  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  ME  AGREE. 

earth,  its  genius  exhaustless  and  irrepressible  —  various  and  affluent  as  the 
rivers  which  keep  green  forever  the  old  land  from  which  that  race  has 
sprung  —  undecaying  and  lofty  as  the  mountains  that  overlook  that  land 
from  the  clouds  which  are  so  solemnly  like  to  its  brooding  memories  of 
its  destiny  in  the  past  —  this  genius  has  made  itself  maufest  in  an  illustri 
ous  line  of  master  intellects.  —  whose  wit,  poetry,  song,  creative  faculty  or 
power  of  golden  speech,  not  all  the  sorrows,  nor  all  the  humiliations,  nor 
all  the  martyrdom  of  the  Irish  race  could  impair,  much  less  suppress. 

"  Great,  indeed,  has  been  the  consolation  which  many  a  prostrate  Irish 
man,  mournfully  bent  over  the  annals  of  his  country  has  derived  from  the  recog 
nition  with  which  everywhere  throughout  the  informed  and  educated  world, 
their  intellectual  triumphs  have  been  encircled  as  with  a  zodiac  of  glory. 
But  greater  still  has  been  his  consolation  and  still  more  vehement  has  been 
his  pride,  when,  looking  abroad  into  other  lands  he  has  seen  the  Irish  sol 
dier  maintaining,  generation  after  generation  the  traditional  and  lyric  splen 
dor  of  his  race— as  a  race  of  instinctive  warriors,  and  on  battlefields  where 
the  older  dynasties  have  been  crushed,  or  from  which  communities  of  a  new 
and  higher  order  have  arisen,  giving  proof  of  that  courage  and  enthusiasm 
which,  more  than  laws,  more  than  institutions,  more  than  any  system  of 
domestic  magistracy  or  foreign  policy,  however  liberally  and  sagaciously 
devised,  —  or  more  than  the  spirit  of  commerce,  however  daring  it  may  be, 
—  is,  after  all,  the  true  soul  and  defence  of  nations. 

"  The  reputation  of  the  Irish  soldier,  achieved  in  the  wars  of  France, 
of  Austria,  and  of  Spain,  in  days  long  gone  by  —  transmitted  to  the  Xew 
World,  and  there  renewed  and  replenished  in  the  struggles  that  gave  birth 
to  the  Eepublics  which  disenthralled  the  Andes  from  the  yoke  of  Spain, 
and  which,  at  a  still  later  day,  proved  iteelf  fresh  as  ever,  and  bright  as 
ever  in  the  full  blaze  of  that  sun  which  blazed,  fiercely  as  the  death-deal 
ing  arrows  of  Apollo,  upon  the  plains  of  Cerjo  Gordo,  —  the  reputation  of 
the  Irish  soldier  thus  made  good  and  thus  transmitted  is  now  to  be  main 
tained  and  still  further  to  be  perpetuated '  by  the  Irish  Brigade,  fighting 
for  the  honor,  the  integrity,  the  authority  of  the  American  Republic. 

"To  the  officers  and  men  of  the  Irish  Brigade  this  thought  must  be  an 
inspiring  one. 

"A  soldier's  life,  in  time  of  war,  is,  for  the  most  part,  a  life  of  severe 
privation,  hardship,  self-subjection  and  self-denial.  For  the  time  being,  he 
does  no  less  than  abdicate  his  freedom  and  renounce  his  home.  In  most 
cases  his  tastes,  his  pursuits,  his  very  character  undergo  a  stern  change, 


COMMISSIONED  BEIGADIEE-GENEEAL.  437 

and  he  accepts  a  yoke  which,  if  borne  with  a  soldier's  spirit,  will  be  light 
indeed,  but  otherwise  is  most  burdensome  and  galling.  A  proud,  high  sense 
of  duty,  ever  animating  the  soldier  through  the  day,  under  every  discom 
fort  and  restraint,  is  sufficient  of  itself  to  invigorate  and  cheer  him,  and, 
in  truth,  will  do  so  in  every  case  where  his  heart  is  not  incurably  vicious 
or  his  mind  brutified.  Where  a  just  cause,  an  upright  cause  —  the  sustain- 
ment  of  the  kindest  and  most  encouraging  government  that  a  people  has  ever 
had,  and  with  that  a  territory  and  resources,  and  broad  avenues  opening 
up  into  positions  the  brightest  and  most  easily  accessible  that  man,  the 
poor  man  especially,  has  ever  had  —  where  such  a  cause  stimulates  the  sol 
dier's  sense  of  duty,  it  should  be  an  easy  task  lor  him  to  accept  with 
cheerfulness  all  the  requirements,  rigorous  though  they  may  be,  of  a  sol 
dier's  life. 

"More  fortunate  still  is  the  Irish  soldier  in  the  army  of  the  American  Re 
public.  To  this  high,  proud  sense  of  duty  —  to  this  stimulating  grandeur  of  a 
just  and  noble  caus"e  —  he  has  superadded  the  incentives,  which  the  conviction 
of  what  he  owes  to  the  military  reputation  of  his  race  traditionally  affords. 
A  splendid  volume,  impetishably  recording  the  fidelity  and  bravery  of  the 
Irish  soldier  —  the  chapters  of  which,  headed  by  such  words  as  those  of 
Cremona,  Landen,  Fontenoy.  as  you  have  this  night  wreathed  in  appropri 
ate  and  suggestive  evergreens  on  the  walls  of  this  pavilion,  and  to  which 
should  have  been  added  those  of  Castlefidardo  and  Spoleto,  were  it  not  that 
the  hand  which  recalled  those  older  memories  with  such  artistic  grace  bore 
an  honorable  weapon  in  those  no  less  honorable  transactions  of  a  later  date, 
—  this  splendid  volume  has  come  down  to  us,  and  it  is  for  us  to  blacken 
its  pages  or  add  a  new  chapter,  which,  with  its  brilliancy,  will  render  it 
an  unblemished  work. 

u  There  is  still  another  consideration  —  one  which  although  it  may  have 
its  root  in  the  past  has  its  promised  blossoming  in  the  future.  This  war 
which,  like  all  other  wars,  brings  with  it  its  calamities  and  ruin,  likewise 
brings  wih  it  its  lessons  of  wisdom,  of  practical  advantages  —  its  improve 
ment  of  individual  character,  its  development  of  traits  and  virtues,  which 
no  other  ever  might  perhaps  evolve;  and  better  still,  it  sows  the  seeds,  it 
plants  the  laurels,  which,  —  like  those  that  grew  around  the  grave  of  the 
young  hero  in  Virgilian  song,  —  will  germinate  in  weapons  for  the  land  which, 
in  a  communion  of  hope  and  martyrdom  with  Poland,  with  an  immortal 
piety  and  zeal,  in  millions  of  hidden  hearts,  aspires,  prays,  pants  and  chafs 
for  freedom. 


438  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  ME  AGREE 

"  Thanks  be  to  God  this  war  has  brought  to  us,  Irishmen,  a  field  and 
an  opportunity  for  the  acquirement  of  military  knowledge  —  for  the  acquire 
ment  of  that  discipline,  that  subordination,  that  self-abnegation,  combined, 
wi-h  enthusiasm,  that  practiced  and  matured  soldiership  —  which  knowledge 
may  yet  fructify  on  the  soil  of  Ireland,  and  bring  forth  in  inexhaustible 
abundance  the  harvest  for  which  so  many  hands  have  toiled,  so  much  sweat 
has  been  expended,  so  much  blood  has  been  poured  out,  and  over  which 
the  kindly  sunshine  of  heaven,  through  the  perversity  of  man,  has  been 
till  now  dispensed  in  vain. 

"  Let  the  truth  be  boldly  told  and  boldly  knowj !  Whilst  we,  here, 
with  all  our  hearts,  devote  ourselves  to  the  maintenance  and  re-affirmation  of 
the  American  Republic,  in  its  legitimate  plenitude,  and  whilst  we  are  pre 
pared  to  die  in  that  great,  just  effort — all  the  greater  that  it  is  so  just,  to 
attain  this  end  is  the  hope,  the  prayer,  the  inspiration  of  every  officer  and 
soldier  in  the  ranks  of  the  Irish  Brigade,  —  the  hope,  the  prayer,  the  inspi 
ration,  that  will  nerve  his  arm  as  it  could  never  otherwise  be  nerved, 
and  precipitate  him  to  victory,  in  the  teeth  of  the  most  desperate  odds ;  — 
it  is  the  hope,  the  prayer,  the  inspiration  that  this  Irish  Brigade,  here  on 
the  Southern  bank  of  the  Potomac,  together  with  every  other  Irish  soldier 
in  arms  for  the  American  Republic,  will  be  in  the  advance-guard  one  day, 
—  and  that  not  far  distant,  —  the  green  flags  and  ringing  trumpets  of  which 
will  awaken  the  true  soul  of  Ireland  to  the  dawn  of  the  Easter  Sunday 
which  has  been  so  long  promised,  so  faithfully  awaited,  and  so  fervtntly 
prayed  for. 

"  This,  then,  must  be  with  every  man  of  the  Irish  Brigade  a  thought 
\~hich  will  have  the  power  of  a  rapturous  passion.  To-day  it  is  for  the 
American  [Republic  we  fight  —  to-morrow  it  will  be  for  Ireland  —  creditably 
acquitting  ourselves  in  this  great  struggle  —  advancing  under  orders  from 
the  General-in-Chief  of  the  armies  of  the  American  Republic,  heeding  no  other 
orders — blind  to  every  newspaper,  whater  it  may  teach  —  deaf  to  every  word 
that  comes  not  to  us  through  the  regular  military  channels  —  ceasing  to 
be  politicians  —  utterly  annihilating  ourselves  as  such  —  determined  to  be  sol 
diers  and  to  be  nothing  else,  until  the  Stars  and  Stripes  float  over  every 
inch  of  their  legal  domain  —  let  us  be  true  to  our  oaths  which  we  have 
taken  on  entering  the  military  service  of  the  American  Republic,  and  stand 
fast,  push  on  or  dash  ahead  as  the  order  of  the  General-in-Chief  commands 
us.  Should  we  be  ordered  on  —  should  we  be  ordered  to  plunge  ourselves 
into  the  thickest  of  the  most  desperate  fight,  it  will  be  my  rapturous  hap 
piness  to  lead  the  Irish  Brigade.  In  such  an  event  many  are  sure  to  fall. 


COMMISSIONED   BRIGADIER  GENERAL.  433 

"  Should  I  survive,  and  the  cause  of  the  American  Republic  prove  suc 
cessful,  my  soldiership  shall  not  cease;  for,  having  fulfilled  my  duty,  —  and 
a  willing  and  proud  one  it  will  have  been  —  I  shall  still  have  one  more  duty 
to  perform,  and  that  will  be.  for  a  second  time,  to  risk  my  life  in  an 
effort  to  give  to  Ireland*-  that  is,  to  all  who  are  true  to  the  traditional, 
the  immemorial,  the  inextinguishable  hopes  and  claims  of  Ireland  as  an 
original  and  ancient  European  nation  —  that  which  she  has  never  voluntarily 
abdicated,  and  for  which  her  resources,  industrial,  military  and  social,  qual 
ity  her,  in  an  eminent  and  abundant  degree,  whatever  the  emasculated  purvey 
ors  and  marrowless  leeches,  preying  upon  a  chained  and  apparently  exhausted 
or  subject  people  may  to  the  contrary  assert. 

'•Sould  I  fall  in  this  conflict,  other  men,  better  qualified  in  every  res 
pect,  will  survive  me,  and  they  will  not  descend  into  their  graves  until 
the  effort  I  have  spoken  of  shall  be  made.  But  failing  in  the  conflict,  if 
it  be  the  will  of  God  that  it  shall  be  so,  I  *ave  one  desire,  that  those  who 
shall  have  been  the  witnesses  of  my  fidelity  to  the  Irish  Brigade,  in  its 
origin,  in  the  camp  and  in  the  field,  shall  write  upon  my  gravestone,  should 
such  a  stone  be  ever  placed  over  me,  and  a  nobler  epitaph  no  Irishman  — 
no  exiled  Irishman  like  me  —  could  more  justifiably  aspire  to  — 

'••Fighting  for  the  honor  and  integrity  of  the  Irish  exile's  happiest, 
proudest,  and  most  prosperous  home,  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  an  Irish 
exile,  died  at  the  head  of  the  Irish  Brigade.' 

"This  is  my  last  speech  until  the  war  is  over;  and  I  am  perfectly  wil 
ling  that  they  should  be  my  dying  words." 

The  hope  expressed  by  Meagher  —  of  having  the  Irish  Brigade  constitute 
a  portion  of  an  Irish  Division  under  General  Shields, — was,  however,  frus 
trated  by  the  action  of  the  narrow-minded  politicians  whose  prejudices  were 
stronger  than  their  patriotism  or  sense  of  justice. 

On  the  24th  of  February,  a  deputation  of  the  officers  of  the  Brigade, 
headed  by  General  Meagher,  waited  on  the  Secretary  of  War,  to  express  to 
the  Administration,  through  him,  the  unanimous  desire  that  tLe  various 
Irish-American  regiments  scattered  through  the  army,  should  be  aggn  gated 
into  a  Division,  to  be  placed  under  the  command  of  General  James  Shields, 
thus  giving  that  gallant  officer  the  rank  of  Major-General.  The  same  thing 
had  already  been  done  with  the  German  regiments,  and  General  Bleuker, 
who  had  left  New  York  as  Colonel  of  the  8th  N.  Y.  V.  (or  "  First  Ger 
man  Rifles,")  had  been  made  Division  General.  But  though  the  Secretary 
of  War  promised  to  represent  the  matter  favorably  to  the  President,  no 
action  was  taken  thereon ;  and,  though  General  Shields,  subsequently  ob- 


4-10  ME 31  OIK S   OF  GEN.    THOMAS    FRjyCIS  31EAGHEE. 

taincd  command  of  a  Division — (and  proved  his  ability  by  his  defeat  of 
Stonewall  Jackson  at  Winchester  —  the  only  defeat  that  gallant  Confederate 
officer  ever  sustained.)  —  yet  it  was  r.ot  a  Division  composed  exclusively  of 
Irishmen  —  as  his  countrymen  desired. 

But  it  appears  that  it  was  not  in  accordance1  with  the  views  of  certain 
officials  that  the  Irish  element  in  the  army  should  be  rendered  too  con 
spicuous, —  for,  when  General  Meagher  requested  to  have  the  37th  N.  Y. 
Volunteers — ("Irish  Uifles,'1)  —  assigned  to  his  command,  he  was  refused, 
and  he  got  instead  the  29ih  Mass.  —  (which,  however,  was  subsequently 
replaced  by  the  2Sth  Mass.  —  a  thoroughly  Irish  organization). 

U  ARCHING  AND  COUNTER-MARCHING. 

On  the  15th  of  March,  1862,  General  McClellan  issued  an  "  Order  of 
the  Day :'  to  the  Army  of  fhe  Potomac,  announcing  that  — "  the  time  for 
action  had  at  length  arrived."  General  Meagher  read  the  order  for  the 
Irish  Brigade  on  the  same  day.  It  evoked  the  wildest  enthusiasm.  On  the 
next  day,  the  Brigade,  with  the  69th  in  the  van.  left  their  bivouac  on  the 
hills  above  Union  Mills,  and  took  the  road  to  Fairfax  Court  House.  The 
road  was  crossed  by  a  stream  called  Pope's  Head,  which  the  rains  of  the 
preceding  days  had  swollen  into  a  torrent.  A  rude  bridge  had  been 
thrown  over  it  by  a  detail  from  the  Brigade  under  command  of  Major  Cav- 
anagh,  and  the  men  were  thus  enabled  to  cross  in  comparative  comfort, 
while  General  Meagher  and  the  mounted  officers  forded  the  stream  on 
horseback. 

Writing  of  this  march  —  Captain  Turner  —  the  chronicler  of  the  Brigade, 
thus  refers  to  the  gallant  leader  of  the  left  wing  of  the  69ch: — 

"In  front  you  observe,  if  you  have  eyes,  the  sturdy,  high-minded,  thor 
ough  and  complete  soldier,  Major  Cavanagh  —  one  of  the  best  of  men,  and 
one  of  the  most  reliable  soldiers  of  the  Irish  Brigade.  If  ever  the  '•  Old 
Land"  needs  a  soldier,  or  the  new  a  sacrifice  and  a  leader,  neither  can 
find,  I  give  you  my  word,  a  man  of  nobler  mind  or  more  soldierly  instincts 
and  intuitions.  Only  that  I  have'  heard  the  utterance  in  private,  and  where 
one  should  never  repeat,  either  in  print  or  speech,  the  words  of  comrade  or 
companion,  I  could  tell  you  how  often  in  private  and  in  solitude,  I  have 
heard  a  real  old  Irish  Nationalist  say :  '  Would  it  were  upon  the  mountains 
or  the  plains  of  Ireland  we  were  marching,  and  that  those  were  the  Eng 
lish  watch-fires  yonder.' " 

From    Fairfax    Court    House  the  Brigade  took  the  road  to  Centreville  to 


THE   7 3D  AT   WILLIAMSBUBG.  441 

reinforce  Get  era!  French  at  Manapsas,  against  whom  the  Confederates  were 
making  some  demonstrations.  On  the  morning  of  St.  Patrick's  day,  the 
Brigade  crossed  Bull  Run  —  beirg  the  second  time  that  many  of  those  in 
its  ranks  had  passed  that  now  historic  stream.  The  8Sth  Regiment  was 
assigned  the  duty  of  guarding  the  bridge.  Here  they  were  posted  for  the 
ensuing  week. 

On  the  25th  of  March  General  Sumner's  Corps  —  to  which  the  Irish 
Brigade  was  attached,  was  moved  to  Warrenton.  on  the  Orange  and  Alex 
andria  Railroad ;  but  they  were  not  long  there  when  an  order  came  to  the 
Irish  Brigade  to  return  to  Camp  California,  preparatory  to  embarking  for 
Fortress  Monroe.  For  the  army,  in  obedience  to  orders  from  Washington, 
was  about  to  be  transferred  to  the  Peninsula. 

From  Camp  California  the  Brigade  marched  to  Alexandria,  where  they 
embarked  for  Fortress  Monroe.  They  were  landed  at  Ship  Point,  from  whence 
they  proceeded  to  Camp  Wiufield  Scott,  in  front  of  Yorktown,  which  was 
held  by  the  Confederates  and  strongly  fortified.  On  the  4th  of  Ma}%  Gen 
eral  McClellan  succeeded  in  forcing  the  enemy  to  abandon  Yorktown,  and 
fall  back  upon  their  next  line  of  defence  at  Williamsburg,  where  they  were 
again  defeated  in  a  hotly  contested  battle  on  the  5th,  and  compelled  to  fall 
back  towards  Richmond. 

During  the  progress  of  the  battle  reinforcements  were  called  for,  and 
the  Irish  Brigade  started  from  Yorktown  at  nightfall,  in  a  teeming  rain, 
and  on  a  road  covered  with  mud  so  deep  and  tenacious  that  the  batteries 
of  artillery  in  advance  got  stuck  in  the  ruts  every  five  minutes.  Owing 
to  these  repeated  delays  but  slow  progress  was  made,  and  at  2  o'clock,  A. 
>i.,  the  Brigade  received  orders  to  halt  and  bivouac  in  a  wood,  and  there 
they  remained  for  the  rest  of  the  night.  Next  morning  they  learned  the 
result  of  the  battle,  and  in  the  evening,  were  again  on  the  march  towards 
Yorktowu,  without  having  an  opportunity  of  exchanging  a  shot  with  the 
enemy. 

THE  37TH  N.  Y.  V.   (u  IRISH  RIFLES,")  AT  WILLIAMSBURG. 

But  though  the  men  of  the  Irish  Brigade  were  denied  the  privilege  of 
participating  in  the  opening  battle  of  the  campaign  —  the  old  race  was  nobly 
represented  thereat  by  their  brothers  of  the  37th  (Irish  Rifles.)  as  will  be 
seen  by  the  following  extracts  from  the  report  of  Colonel  Hayman,  com 
manding  that  regiment :  — 

"  HEADQUARTERS  37TH  N'.  Y.  VOLUNTEERS, 
Camp  at  Williamsburg,    Va.,   May   6,    1862. 
"CAPTAIN:    In   obedience  to   a  circular  from   brigade  headquartes  of  this 


442  MEMOIRS    OF  GEN.    THOMA^  FEANCIS  MEAGHER. 

date,  I  have  the  honor  to  submit  the  following  report  of  the  part  per 
formed  by  my  regiment  in  the  action  of  yesterday : 

u  After  a  fatiguing  march  through  mud  and  rain  from  camp  near  York- 
town  the  regiment  reached  the  place  of  engagement,  located  in  heavy  tim 
ber  and  undergrowth,  near  Willianisburg,  about  3  o'clock,  p.  M.  It  was 
placed  in  position  on  the  left  of  the  Fifth  Michigan,  parallel  to  the  sup 
posed  line  of  the  enemy,  and  Company  B,  Capt.  James  T.  Maguire,  was 
deployed  as  skirmishers  nearly  perpendicular  to  my  line,  to  protect  my  left 
flank.  An  almost  continuous  fire  was  soon  opened  upon  the  regiment  by  a 
concealed  foe,  which  lasted  about  an  hour,  and  which  was  returned  with  spirit 
for  some  time,  when  I  ordered  the  fire  to  cease  until  the  enemy  could  be 
seen,  to  avoid  an  unnecessary  loss  of  ammunition. 

"  A  scout  was  now  sent  to  my  front  to  observe  the  enemy,  which  soon 
returned  and  reported  him  moving  to  my  left.  This  seemed  to  be  confirmed 
by  his  fire,  which  was  delivered  in  front  and  on  my  left.  The  whole  regi 
ment  was  now  moved  some  distance  to  the  left,  and  six  companies  deployed 
in,  extended  order  in  a  line,  making  something  less  than  a  right  angle  with 
my  original  line,  as  it  was  upon  these  six  companies  that  the  enemy  exerted 
his  greatest  efforts,  and  they  compelled  him  to  abandon  his  design  in  that 
direction  and  retire  entirely  from  the  woods  after  a  contest  of  probably  an 
hour's  duration.  The  companies  on  the  right  accomplished  a  like  result  in 
reference  to  the  enemy  in  front.  The  enemy  carried  most  of  his  wounded 
with  him,  but  a  considerable  number  of  his  dead  and  some  wounded  were 
left,  and  three  different  parties  seeking  for  the  dead  were  captured  by  my 
pickets  during  the  night. 

"  After  the  enemy  had  retired  eight  companies  of  my  regiment  were  de 
ployed  as  skirmishers,  extending  from  my  original  right  to  the  left  as  far 
as  the  plain  in  front  of  William sburg.  The  other  two  companies  were  de 
tached  by  order  of  Brigadier-General  Berry  —  one  to  man,  the  other  to  defend 
the  battery.  No  sign  of  the  enemy  was  discovered  by  the  pickets  during 
the  night,  except  small  details  looking  for  his  dead. 

"The   conduct  of  all   my   officers   I   consider  worthy  of  commendation. 

********* 

"It  is  but  just  to  say  that  the  courage  of  the  officers  of  the  six  left 
companies  were  most  severely  tested,  and  on  that  account  their  commanders 
are  worthy  of  special  notice.  They  were  commanded  by  Capts.  James  T. 
Maguire,  Clarke,  De  Lacy,  O'Beirne,*  and  Diegnan,  and  First  Lieutenant 

*Now,  General  James  R.  O'B'irne  of  New  York,  than  whom,  as  a  gallant  soldier  and 
thorough-going  Irish  patriot,  no  better  or  braver  repreeentative  of  his  race  exists —  on 
either  side  of  the  Atlantic. 


THE  BATTLE    OF  FAIR    OAKS.  443 

Hayes.  I  also  deem  worthy  of  notice  First  Sergt.  Lawrence  Murphy,  Com 
pany  K,  and  First  Sergt.  Martin  Conboy,  Company  B. 

uThe  conduct  of  the  enlisted  men  of  the  regiment  is  deserving  of  the 
greatest  praise,  and  without  individual  courage,  under  the  circumstances  of 
the  engagement,  but  little  could  have  been  accomplished,  and  it  is  therefore 
to  this  circumstance  I  attribute  in  a  great  measure  the  success  of  my  com 
mand. 

********* 

"  I  would  also  commend  to  the  special  consideration  of  the  general  com 
manding  the  following  men,  who,  after  being  severely  wounded,  captured  a 
number  of  prisoners :  Company  C,  Corpl.  Patrick  Kiggan,  Corpl.  James 
Boyle,  and  Private  Charles  O'Brien;  Company  F,  Private  Henry  Brady. 

"The  regiment  has  to  deplore  the  loss  of  two  of  its  most  valuable 
officers,  First  Lieuts.  Pat.  H.  Hayes  and  Jeremiah  O'Leary,*  who  were  ki)ed 
whilst  gallantly  leading  their  men  in  the  most  destructive  fire  of  the  enemy. 
The  colonel  commanding  feels  in  the  loss  of  these  officers,  and  the  brave 
men  who  fell  with  them,  the  great  sacrifice  incurrred  in  the  success  of  the 
regiment. 

"  Very   respectfully,   your  obedient   servant, 

"S.  B.  HAYMAN, 
•'  Colonel,  Commanding    Thirty  seventh  New  York  Volunteers." 

THE  BATTLE  OP  FAIR  OAKS. 

From  Yorktown  the  Irish  Brigade  advanced  to  the  Chickahominy,  on 
the  banks  of  which  they  encamped  for  a  fortnight  in  comparative  inactivity. 
To  vary  this  monotonous  life,  they  improvised  a  series  of  steeple-chases,  in 
which  Captains  Gosson  and  Cavauagh  were  the  most  successful  competitors. 
On  Saturday  evening.  May  31st,  just  as  one  of  those  races  was  finished, 
the  deep  boom  of  artillery  was  heard  coming  from  the  woods  bordering 
both  siaes  of  the  Chicahominy.  This  was  quickly  followed  by  the  faint 


"Lieutenants  Patrick  H.  Hayes  and  Jeremiah  O'Leary  — the  only  officers  of  the  "Irish 
Bifles"  killed  at  Willlannbnrg  —  were,  previous  to  the  war,  two  of  the  most  zeaious  and 
efficient  officers  of  the  Phee  ix  Brigade,  the  former  being  Fir^t  Lieutenant  of  Company 
A,  f  Capt.  Welpley's  Company),  and  the  latter  Captain  of  Company  C.  They  sleep 
together  on  the  field  -where  they  fell.  Their  faithful  Fenian  Brothers  dug  their  grave  st 
the  foot  of  an  oak  tree,  and  laid  them,  tenderly  and  lovingly,  side  by  side,  their  arms 
twined  around  each  other's  neck  — covered  them  with  the  greenest  of  shamrocked  eods. 
and,  with  fervent  prayers  for  their  soul's  repose— left  them  to  await  a  happy  resurrection 


444  MEMOIBS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

/  • 

but    continuous    rattle    of    musketry,   a    sure    sign    that    a    hard    fight  was  in 
progress  on,  the  opposite   side   of    the  river. 

That  was  the  battle  of  the  Seven  Pines,  in  which  the  Union  forces 
under  General  Casey  contended  ineffectually  against  the  Confederates  led  by 
General  Joe  Johnson. 

The  Chickahomiuy  was  flooded,  and  the  bridge  carried  away;  but,  by 
hard  work,  it  was  replaced  before  morning,  and  the  greater  part  of  General 
Simmer's  Division  were  across  the  river,  and  hurried  to  the  front. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  night  the  Irish  Brigade  bivouaced  in  the 
woods,  and  woke  up  at  dawn  to  find  themselves  within  pistol-shot  of  the 
enemy,  who,  no  doubt,  shared  in  their  astonishment  at  the  unexpected  ren 
contre —  coming  as  it  did  without  the  least  warning.  From  General  Meagher's 
lucid  description  of  the  situation,  and  of  the  battle  which  ensued,  I  select 
the  following  passages :  — 

u  The  Pamunkey  and  Richmond  railroad  ran  within  five  hundred  paces 
of  the  Brigade  line,  and  almosc  parallel  to  it.  Two  miles  to  the  rear,  was 
the  Chickahominy.  Richardson's  Division,  of  which  mine  was  the  Second 
Brigade,  occupied  in  two  lines  a  wide  corn-field,  the  crop  •  on  which  had 
been  thoroughly  trampled  out  of  sight,  nothing  in  the  way  of  vegetation 
remaining  above  the  soaked  and  trodden  surface  but  the  blackened  stumps 
of  the  pines  that  formerly  covered  it.  To  the  right  were  tall,  beautiful, 
noble  woods;  to  the  extreme  left,  the  same.  Between  the  left  of  our  line 
and  the  railroad  was  a  smaller  wood.  On  the  other  side  of  the  railroad 
was  a  long  thick  belt  of  handsome  trees  —  full  of  glittering  and  rustling 
leaves  —  the  beams  of  the  dawning  sun  veiling  them  with  transparent  gold 
—  not  a  breath  of  wind  wakening  them  from  their  grand  repose.  This  superb 
belt,  however,  concealed  an  ugly  swamp,  and  the  perplexing  and  almost  im 
pervious  undergrowth  with  which  it  was  interwoven.  Richmond  was  but 
four  miles  distant  from  the  colors  of  the  Sixry-niuth  New  York  Volunteers, 
the  right  of  the  Brigade.  One  of  the  pioneers  of  the  regiment  —  formerly 
a  sailor  —  an  immense,  shaggy,  iron-built  fellow,  with  a  tanned  skin  and  a 
tcmpestous  eye,  agile  and  daring  as  a  tiger  —  darting  up  a  towering  pine 
close  to  the  railroad,  saw  the  dome  of  the  Capitol  flashing  through  the 
smoke  of  the  city,  the  church-spires,  and  shining  fragments  of  the  bridges 
over  the  James  River. 

"  The  object  of  the  enemy  was  to  drive  us  from  the  railroad,  back  to 
the  Chickahominy,  and  into  it  if  possible.  They  had  surprised  General  Casey 
the  day  before,  on  the  other  side  of  the  railroad,  and  had  nearly  cut  his 


THE  BATTLE   OF  FAIR   OAKS.  445 

Division  to  pieces.  Sedgwick,  however,  coming  up  rapidly  on  the  right,  and 
Kearney  on  the  left,  the  enemy  were  promptly  checked,  and  fell  back  for 
the  night.  At  daybreak  he  resumed  the  attack. 

"  A  few  minutes  after  the  volley  I  have  mentioned,  Howard's  Brigade  had 
crossed  the  railroad,  and  were  blazing  away  at  a  Brigade  of  Georgians  in 
that  magnificent  forest  in  front  of  us,  forcing  and  tearing  their  way  through 
the  underbrush,  through  the  swamp,  over  fallen  trees  and  mangled  bodies, 
in  the  full  blaze  of  a  blinding  fire.  French's  Brigade  followed.  OUK  turn 
came  next. 

"The  Sixtr-ninth  swept  down  to  the  railroad,  and  reaching  it,  deployed 
into  line  of  battle  on  the  track.  This  they  did  under  a  hurricane  of  bullets. 
One ;  in  line,  however,  they  paid  back  the  compliments  of  the  morning  with 
the  characteristic  alacrity  and  heartiness  of  a  genuine  Irish  acknowledgment. 
The  exchange  of  fervent  salutations  was  kept  up  for  an  hour.  The  chiv 
alry  of  Virginia  met  its  match  in  the  chivalry  of  Tipperary. 

"  In  the  meantime,  the  Eighty-eighth  New- York,  piercing  the  small  wood 
which,  as  I  have  said,  lay  between  the  railroad  and  the  left  ot  the  Brigade, 
debouched  from  it  into  a  pretty  deep  cutting  of  the  road,  in  which  the 
regiment  threw  itself  into  line  of  battle,  as  the  69th  had  done  a  little  higher 
up,  and  got  to  work  with  a  dazzling  celerity.  In  front  of  the  cutting  was 
an  open  space,  some  ten  or  twelve  acres  in  extent,  forming  a  half-circle. 
A  rail  fence  ran  across  it,  a  hundred  paces  from  the  railroad.  Here  and 
there,  behind  the  ft  nee,  were  clumps  of  shrubbery  and  wild  blackberry 
bushes.  The  whole  was  girt  by  a  cincture  of  dark  pin^s,  closely  set  together, 
in  the  limbs  of  which,  hidden  by  the  leaves  and  shadows  of  the  trees,  were 
swiirms  of  sharp-shoot*  rs ;  whilst  the  wood  itself,  and  the  clumps  and  bushes 
were  alive  with  Rebels.  Climbing  the  embankment  of  the  cutting,  so  as  to 
enable  them  to  rest  their  muskets  and  plant  their  colors  on  top  of  it,  the 
Eighty-eighth  threw  their  first  fire  in  one  broad  sheet  of  lightning  into  the 
fence  and  wood.  From  both  fence  and  wood  came,  an  instant  after,  a 
scorching  whirlwind,  tearing  and  ploughing  up  the  grass  and  corn-stalks  in 
the  open  space,  and  ripping  the  colors,  as  it  made  them  flap  and  beat 
against  the  flag  staffs. 

Close  to  where  the  colors  were  planted  stood  a  log-built  cottage  —  the 
propi  rty  of  a  lethargic  German  with  pink  eyes  and  yellow  hair  —  and  two 
or  three  auxiliary  structures  devoted  to  pigs,  chickens,  and  bees.  These 
served  as  an  excellent  cover  for  a  company  of  the  Eighty-eighth,  detailed 
for  special  practice  against  the  sharp-shooters. 


446  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FEANCIS  ME  AGUES. 

'•  On  the  opposite  embankment  there  stood  a  very  dingy  and  battered 
little  barn,  abounding  in  fleas  and  mice,  and  superabundantly  carpeted  with 
damp  hay.  This  was  appropriated  as  the  hospital  of  the  regiment.  The  red 
flag  was  displayed  from  the  roof,  and  in  a  few  minutes  it  was  the  scene 
of  much  suffering,  tenderness,  devotion,  thought  and  love  of  home,  heroic 
resignation,  and  calm  bravery  under  the  inexorable  hand  of  death.  There, 
indeed,  were  to  be  seen  in  many  instances  the  sweetness,  the  cheerfulness, 
the  strength,  the  grandeur  of  character  which  proved  the  fidelity  of  the 
private  soldier  to  his  cause,  the  disinterestedness  with  which  he  had  pledged 
himself  to  it,  the  consciousness  of  his  having  done  well  in  the  face  of  dan 
ger,  and  leaving  to  his  home  and  comrades  a  memory  which  would  brighten 
the  sadness  of  those  who  knew,  loved,  and  honored  him. 

"There  was  to  be  seen  the  good,  kind,  gentle  priest  of  the  old  and 
eternal  Faith  calming  the  levered  brain  with  words  which  at  such  moments 
express  the  divinest  melody,  and  gladdening  the  drooping  eye  with  visions 
that  transform  the  bed  of  torture  into  one  of  flowers,  and  the  cloud  of 
death  into  a  home  of  splendor. 

"Driven  back  on  the  right  by  Sedgwick  —  on  the  centre  by  Richardson —  on 
the  left  by  Kearney  —  baffled,  broken,  routed  at  all  three  points  at  one  and 
the  same  time  —  at  noon  that  day  the  Rebel  forces  were  pursued  by  Hooker. 
Had  he  been  permitted  he  would  have  followed  them  to  Richmond.  Kear 
ney  was  mad  for  the  pursuit  —  so  was  Sumner  —  so  were  French  and  Sedg 
wick —  so  was  every  one  of  our  officers  and  soldiers.  It  was  the  instinct 
and  passion  of  the  entire  army. 

"'Now  that  we've  got  them  on  the  run'  —  as  a  Sergeant  of  the  Eighty- 
eighth  knowingly  observed — 'the  thing  is  to  keep  them  running,' 

"  It  would  have  been  the  telling  game  to  play.  Followed  up  briskly  and 
•with  determination,  the  enemy  would  not  have  faced  about  this  side  of 
Richmond.  As  it  was  his  retreat  could  hardly  have  been  more  fearfully  disor 
dered.  Thousands  of  muskets  were  flung  away — cartridge-boxes,  blankets,  every 
thing  that  ever  so  slightly  checked  or  slackened  the  rapidity  of  that  wild 
flight  —  for  it  was  nothing  short  of  that  —  were  torn  off',  dropped  on  the 
road,  or  whirled  impatiently  into  the  woods." 

[Captain  Field,  of  the  U.  S.  Artillery,  gives  this  graphic  account  of  the 
battle,  and  of  the  part  played  by  the  Irish  Brigade  in  their  first  general 
engagement:  — 

'•We  could  follow  the  fluctuating  fortunes  of  the  day  by  the  way  the 
fire  advanced  and  retired,  accompanied  by  the  solid  cheers  of  our  men  and 


THE  BATTLE   OF  FAIR    OAKb.  447 

the  sharp  continuous  yell  of  the  enemy.  Presently  the  fire  came  nearer, 
with  an  increased  crash  on  the  other  side  and  a  perceptible  slackening  on 
ours.  In  a  few  minutes  stragglers  and  wounded  men  began  to  emerge  from 
the  timber.  The  first  brigade  of  our  division  was  being  driven  in.  General 
Sumner  sent  in  the  next  brigade,  Howard's,  and  with  this  fresh  force  the 
fire  again  resumed  its  full  volume,  reaching  the  climax  of  the  battle. 

"A  nearer  approach  ot  the  fire,  another  lull  in  our  direction  and  wild 
yells,  meant  a  second  repulse,  and  now  we  saw  General  Sumner  ride  up  to 
the  Irish  Brigade.,  but  a  bare  quarter  of  a  mile  off  on  our  right  front.  We 
saw  his  hat  ofF  and  his  gray  locks  bared  as  he  evidently  made  a  short 
speech,  probably  the  only  one  of  the  old  hero's  life.  We  learned  afterwards 
that  he  told  them  that  they  were  his  last  hope;  if  they  failed  him  all  was 
lost,  lbut,'  said  he,  'I'll  go  my  stars  on  you,'  pointing  to  his  shoulder- 
straps.  ll  want  to  see  how  Irishmen  fight,  and  when  you  'run  I'll  run 
too.' 

"A  hearty  cheer  greeted  his  last  words,  and  the  brigade  moved  into  the 
woods  with  the  air  of  men  who  were  going  to  stay.  A  fresh  crash  showed 
when  they  struck  the  enemy.  For  a  few  minutes  the  fire  was  deafening, 
then  it  began  to  retire  The  yellfe  gave  way  to  long  continuous  cheers,  an 
aid  galloped  up  to  order  a  section  of  artillery  to  follow  our  advancing  line, 
and  the  battle  of  Fair  Oaks  was  won. 

u  It  was  an  inspiriting  opening  of  a  heroic  history,  and  from  that  day 
General  Sumner  swore  by  the  Irish  Brigade. 

"During  the  latter  part  of  the  action,  an  officer  dashed  up  to  General 
Sumcer  —  wearing  a  cap  heavily  laced  with  gold,  jacket  similarly  ornamented, 
with  long  grizzled  moustache  curled  up  to  his  eyes.  He  saluted  and  gave 
a  report  of  the  close  of  the  action. 

"  General  Sumner  said,  k  That  was  a  gallant  charge  of  your  brigade, 
Captain  Gosson.' 

11 '  Begad,  sir,'  said  Jack,  raising  his  cap,  '  we  gave  them  a  healtny 
dash.' "] 


418  MEMOIRS  OF  CrEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 


CHAPTER    LX  V. 


FROM  FAIR  OAKS  TO  MALVERX  HILL.  —  MEAGHER  IN 
NEW  YORK. 


X 

I'll  fight  you  every  day  you  rise." 

THE  ETTKICK  SHEPHERD. 


DURING  the  three  weeks  succeeding  the  battle  of  Fair  Oaks,  the  Irish 
Brigade  was  engaged  in  the  onerous  duty  of  guarding  the  front  of  the 
Union  entrenchments.  An  idea  of  the  work  they  performed  and  the  hard 
ships  it  entailed  may  be  formed  from  the  following  extract  from  Capt.  Tur- 
Dftr's  correspondence. 

"CAMP  NEAR  RICHMOND,  June  22,   18G2. 

"The  Irish  Brigade  have  Just  completed  the  severest  round  of  picket 
duty  ever  performed  by  the  same  number  of  men.  In  fact,  for  eight  whole 
days  they  have  kept  the  front,  until  the  men  became  so  worn  out  that 
they  could  hardly  keep  awake  in  the  ranks  from  fatigue  and  want  of  rest. 
Caldwell's  brigade  are  now  in  our  front. 

"During  the  action  of  the  19th  the  enemy  made  a  desperate  attack 
on  our  pickets,  shelling  the  position  for  some  time  from  the  woods  beyond; 
and  following  this  up  by  throwing  out  a  force  to  reconnoitre.  Company  I, 
of  the  63d,  under  command  of  Captain  John  Kavanagh  and  Lieut.  William 
F.  Meehan,  were  in  advance,  and  gallantly  maintained  their  ground.  The 
enemy  poured  a  hot  fire  of  musketry  on  them,  but  not  a  man  flinched, 
while  the  ready  aim  and  coolness  with  which  they  gave  their  return  volleys 
soon  made  their  opponents  retreat.  None  of  the  63d  were  hurt.  Major 
Cavanagh  was  in  command  of  the  pickets,  and  his  report  of  the  affair  so 
pleased  General  Meagher  that  he  issued  the  annexed  complimentary  order: 


FAIR    OAKS    TO   MALVERN  HILL.  449 

'HEADQUARTERS  MEAGHER'S  BRIGADE, 
Fair  OAKS,   Va.,   June  22,   1862. 

'  Capt.   John   Kavanagli,    G3d   Eerjt ,   -V.    Y.    V. 

•CAPTAIN,  —  I  am  directed  by  the  Brigadier-General  commanding  this 
Brigade  to  congratulate  you  on  the  coolness  and  steadiness  shown  by  yourself 
and  the  officers  and  soldiers  under  your  command,  during  the  attack  on  our 
pickets  on  the  afternoon  of  June  19,  1862.  The  Brigadier-General  takes  this 
method  of  thanking  you  for  the  gallantry  and  patriotism  which  animated  those 
under  your  command,  that  he  might  express  in  a  formal  manner  how  much 
gratified  he  feels  at  the  bravery  and  courage  displayed  by  any  portion  of 
the  Brigade  which  he  has  the  honor  to  command. 

'The    motive    for  this  congratulation   was  the   conduct  of  your   company, 
as  reported   by  Major  Cavanagh,   field    officer  of  that  day. 
'I  am,   Captain,   very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient   servant, 

'JOSEPH   S.  McCOY,  Ass.  Adj. -Gen.' 

"A  similar  order  was  issued  re?pncting  Capt.  Leddy's  Company  of  the 
69th,  which  also  exhibited  great  bravery  on  the  occasion. " 

Strong  reinforcements  having  reached  General  Lee's  army  at  Richmond, 
it  became  evident  to  General  McClellau  that  he  had  not  soldiers  enough  to 
fight  the  enemy  in  front  and  to  maintain  the  base  of  his  supplies  on  the 
Pamunkey  River,  and  guard  his  connection  with  it  by  railroad.  Accordingly, 
he  determined  to  effect  a  change  of  base  to  James  River,  —  where  he  could 
receive  his  supplies  directl}'  by  water. 

This  retreat  across  the  Peninsula,  in  the  face  of  an  enemy  superior  in 
numbers,  involved  great  risk,  and  resulted  in  a  series  of  desperate  battles 
lasting  continuously  for  a  week,  but  it  was  eventually  accomplished,  though 
at  a  great  sacrifice  of  men  and  war  material  to  the  Union  army. 

As,  during  the  retreat,  the  Irish  Brigade  constituted  a  portion  of  the 
rear  of  the  army,  it  had  its  full  share  in  repulsing  the  attacks  of  the  per 
severing  enemy. 

In  the  first  of  those  great  battles  — that  of  Gaine's  Mill,  fought  on  the 
27th  of  June,  the  timely  reinforcement  of  French's  and  Meagher's  brigades 
saved  Porter's  overmatched  forces  from  an  overwhelming  disaster  —  for  it 
was  only  by  a  determined  bayonet-charge  of  a  company  of  the  69th  that  the 
stream  of  fugitives  pouring  towards  the  bridge  of  the  Chickahominy  was  check - 

28 


450  MEMOIRS   OF  GEX.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  ME  AC  HER. 

ed,  and  a  rally  made  behind  their  rescuers  —  whose  ringing  cheers  —  as  they 
dashed  into  the  woods  darkening  in  the  evening  gloom, —  checked  the  advance 
of  the  exultant  foe;  and  so,  without  having  tired  a  shot,  those  gallant  twin 
brigades  gave  Porter's  forces  an  opportunity  of  crossing  the  river  and 
rejoining  the  main  body  of  the  army  under  cover  of  night  —  the  Irish 
Brigade  guarding  the  approaches  to  the  bridge  until  all  had  passed  over 
in  salety — when  the  structure  was  destroyed  before  the  baffled  enemy  could 
muster  resolution  to  renew  the  attack  which  was  so  suddenly  checked  by 
the  cheers  they  learned  to  know  so  well  at  Fair  Oaks.* 

It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into  details  of  the  action  of  the  Brigade 
in  the  subsequent  battles  of  that  eventful  week — "Savage  Station,"  "Peach 
Orchard,"  "White  Oak  .Swamp,"  and  "Malvern  Hill."  There  is,  however, 
one  characteristic  episode  related  of  the  last-named  engagement  which  I  can 
not  refrain  Irom  reciting  here.  Captain  Field,  (then  serving  with  "Pettit's 
Battery "  —  the  artillery  attached  to  the  Irish  Brigade,)  is  the  narrator. 

4.  REGIMENTAL  DUEL. 

"An  interesting  epi-ode  in  the  history  of  the  Brigade  was  the  encoun 
ter  at  Malvern  Hill,  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening,  between  the  Eighty-eighth 
R^imen;  and  the  •  well-known  'Louisiana  Tigers'  —  as  a  battalion  from 
Hew  Orleans,  commanded  by  the  famous  Colonel  Wheat,  was  called.  They 
were  the  desperadoes  of  the  Southern  service,  and,  meeting  the  Irishmen 


*  General  McClfllan,  In  his  report  of  this  battle,  thus  refers  to  the  action  of  French's 
and  Meagher's  brigades. 

"About 5  P.  M.  General  Porter  having  reported  his  position  as  critical,  French's  and 
Meaglier's  brigades,  of  Richardson's  division  (Second  Corps,)  were  ordered  to  cross  to  hU 
support.  The  enemy  attacked  again  in  great  torce  at  6  p.  M.,  but  failed  to  break  our 
lia^s,  though  our  loss  was  very  heavy. 

"About  7  P.  M.,  they  threw  fresh  troops  aealnst  General  Porter  with  still  greater  fury, 
and  finally  gained  the  woods  held  by  our  leit.  This  reverse,  aided  by  the  confusion  that 
lollowed  an  unsuccessful  chirge  of  five  companies  of  the  Filth  Cavalry,  and  followed  ad 
it  was  by  more  determined  assaults  on  the  rpmaiuder  of  our  lines,  now  outflanked,  caused 
a  general  retreat  from  our  position  to  the  hill  in  rear,  overlooking  the  bridge. 

"French's  and  Meaeher's  brigades  now  appeared,  driving  before  them  the  stragglers 
who  were  thronging  toward  the  bridge.  These  brigades  advanced  boldly  to  the  front,  and 
by  their  example,  as  well  as  by  the  seadiuess  of  their  bearing,  reanimated  our  own  troops 
and  warned  the  en»my  that  re-enforcements  ha  a  arrived.  It  was  now  dusk  The  enemy, 
aL-vndy  repulsed  several  times  with  terrible  slaughter,  and  hearing  the  shouts  of  the  iresh 
troops,  failed  to  follow  up  their  advantage. " 


A  REGIMENTAL  DUEL.  451 

unexpectedly  at  close  quarters,  fought  with  their  knives  and  pistols.  The 
Irishmen,  ignoring;  their  bayonets,  which  they  had  not  time  to  fix,  clubbed 
their  muskets,  and  so  in  the  dark  and  thick  timber  the  savage  grapple  went 
on.  In  the  thickest  of  the  melee,  a  gigantic  member  of  the  Eighty-eighth 
spied  a  mounted  officer  cheering  on  the  Tigers.  Striding  up  to  him,  he 
grasped  him  with  his  enormous  hand,  and  with  the  exclamation,  kcome  out 
o'  that,  you  spalpeen ! '  fairly  dragged  him  from  his  horse  and  captured 
him. 

'An  incident  connected  with  this  encounter  fastened  the  brigade  to 
General  Sumner  with  hooks  of  steel.  On  the  prolonged  Seven  Days'  Retreat, 
some  muskets  were  of  course  lost  and  thrown  away,  but  astonishingly  few, 
all  things  considered.  Every  case  that  came  to  General  Sumner's  notice 
angered  him.  beyond  bounds.  When  one  morning  an  officer  of  the  Eighty- 
eighth  came  to  him  with  a  requisition  for  quite  a  number  of  muskets, 
Sumuer  broke  out  violently,  denounced  bitterly  men  who  would  lose  or  aban 
don  their  arms,  and  eudod  by  saying,  ;You  shall  not  have  those  muskets, 
sir.  I'll  take  them  all  away  from  you  and  make  your  men  dig  trenches 
Surh  men  are  not  fit  to  carry  arms.' 

"  The  officer  listened  calmly  to  this  tirade  and"  then  said,  '  You're  mis 
taken  there,  General.  We've  not  lost  them  nor  thrown  them  away.' 

'"Where  are  they,   then?'   said  Sumner. 

'Outside,   sir.    I  thought  maybe  you'd   be  wanting  to  see  them.'" 

The  General  went  out,  and  found  a  pile  of  muskets  with  cracked  and 
splintered  stocks,  bent  barrels  and  twisted  bayonets. 

UiHow  is  this?'   said  he. 

"'It's  the  Eighty-eighth,  sir,'  said  the  officer.  'The  boys  got  in  a 
scrimmage  with  the  Tigers,  and  when  the  bloody  villains  took  to  their 
knives,  the  boys  mostly  forgot  their  bayonets,  but  went  to  work  in  the 
style  they  weie  used  to,  and  licked  them  well,  sir.'^, 

"•  As  Sumner  gazed  on  these  speaking  witnesses  of  desperate  pluck  his 
rugged  face  softened,  and,  generous  as  he  was  hasty,  he  said  a  few  words 
which  warmed  the  hearts  of  every  Irishman  in  the  army  that  heard  of  them. 
From  that  time  we  used  to  say  that  the  General  thought  he  could  whip 
Lee's  army  with  the  Irish  Brigade  and  Pettit's  Battery." 

INCIDENTS  OP  GENERAL  MEAGHER'S  VISIT  TO  NEW  YORK. 

While  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  lay  encamped  at  Harrison's  LandiRg^ 
enjoying  a  temporary  rest  after  their  seven  days  and  nights'  alternate  march. 


432  MEMOIRS    OF  GEX.    TJIOMAS    FRANCIS  MEAGIIEE. 

ing  and  fighting,  General  Meagher  was  given  a  brief  leave  of  absence  for 
the  purpose  of  proceeding  to  New  York  to  make  arrangements  for  recruit 
ing  the  depleted  ranks  of  the  brigade. 

At  that  time  the  enthusiasm  —  which  actuated  the  masses  of  the  loyal 
States  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  —  was  perceptibly  abated,  and  it  required 
extraordinary  efforts  to  obtain  recruits,  of  the  class  required  for  the  Irish 
Brigade,  more  especially  as  Mepgher's  personal  and  political  enemies  insidi 
ously  circulated  the  report  that  kk  extra  risk  was  to  be  encountered  in  his 
command  —  it  being  notorious  that  the  Irish  Brigade  was  assigned  more  than 
the  average  share  of  the  hard  fighting." 

They,  moreover,  —  openly  or  covertly  —  as  it  suited  their  purpose  —  either 
boldly  asserted  or  left  it  to  be  inferred,  that  Meagher's  desire  for  personal 
distinction  was  responsible  for  this  exposure  of  his  followers  —  for  —  uuscru- 
pulously  mendacious  as  they  were  —  liiey  never  ventured  to  deny  that  they 
were  his  followers  in  every  instance  where  danger  was  to  be  encountered. 

As  it  happened,  there  was  just  enough  of  foundation  fcr  the  general  asser 
tion  to  base  the  lying  personal  charge  upon,  and  the  fJends  of  Meigher 
and  the  cause  he  advocated  found  it  difficult  to  counteract  tie  elf  cts  of 
the  calumniators'  treachery.  They  set  themselves  tcv^y  to  tin  tcs'i,  tow- 
ever,  and  in  many  instances  were  noMy  assisted  by  tr:ir  f~llcw-c:tizens 
without  distinction  of  race,  creed,  or  place  of  birth.  A  few  instances  of 
individual  liberality,  taken  from  the  New  York  papers  of  the  time,  are 
worth  recording  here. 

The  members  of  the  New  York  Corn  Exchange,  by  personal  subscrip 
tion,  raised  a  fund  sufficient  to  pay  —  in  addition  to  the  Federal,  St^te,  and 
City  bounties,  the  sum  of  $10  each  to  the  first  300  men  who  joined  the 
Irish  Brigade. 

In  the  same  patriotic  spirit  the  firm  of  Austin  Kelley  &  Co.,  sent  the 
following  letter  to  the  Colonel  of  the  69th,  and  nobly  fulfilled  the  obliga 
tions  therein  assumed : 

"OFFICE  OF  AUSTIN  KELLEY  &  Co..   28  Canal  St., 

New  York,   August,    13,    1862. 
"  Col.   Nugent.   69th  Regt  ,   Irish  Brigade. 

"Dear  Sir,  —  Anxious  to  see  the  present  rebelion  terminated  as  speedily 
-as  possible,  and  at  the  same  time  being  fully  cognizant  th^t  there  is  but 
one  way  to  do  so  —  that  is  by  active  and  immediate  enlistments  —  the  mus 
tering  of  thousands  under  the  old  flag  —  we  hereby  offer,  in  addition  to 


MEAQHER  IN  XEW   YOEK.  433 

the  Government,  State,  and  other  bounties,  ten  dollars  to  each  of  the  first  fifty 
recruits  of  the  Irish  Brigade :  and  feeling  that  those  dependent  on  the  men 
who  volunteer  in  a  cause  so  glorious  should  not  be  left  wanting,  we  further 
agree  to  furnish  constant  employment  during  the  war  to  the  wives  and 
daughters  of  such  men,  if  desired. 

"  Sincerely  yours, 

"AUSTIN  KELLEY  &  Co." 

In  the  paper  from  which  the  above  letter  was  taken,  I  find  the  annexed 
interesting  account  of  an  occurrence  which  transpired  on  Broadway,  in  front 
of  the  Irish  Brigade  headquarters :  - 

"  On  Friday  of  last  week  our  old  friend,  Mr.  John  Hennessy,  who  is  one 
of  the  most  earnest  workers  on  behalf  of  the  Brigade,  was  addressing  a  num 
ber  of  persons  outside  the  Headquarters  on  the  duty  of  every  citizen  to  defend 
the  Union  in  its  hour  of  danger,  when  Mr.  Isaac  Selligman,  of  the  firm  of 
Selligman  &  Stettheimer,  334  Broadway,  stepped  forward  and  said:  "Sir,  I 
admire  the  manner  in  which  you  advocate  the  cause  of  America.  I  admire 
your  glorious  Irish  Brigade,  and  its  heroic  conduct  before  the  enemy.  I 
will,  therefore,  offer  twenty  dollars  to  the  first  two  young  men  that  will 
join  you."  This  announcement  was  enthusiastically  cheered,  and  two  young 
mou  named  Robert  Davidson  and  John  Maloney  instantly  stepped  up  and 
ottered  themselves  as  recruits.  At  this  moment,  ex-Mayor  Tieman  arrived 
on  the  scone  and  applauded  Mr.  Hennessey  for  his  efforts.  "Go  on,"  said 
he,  "  Mr.  Hennessey,  and  believe  me,  I  will  assist  you  to  the  utmost  of  my 
ability  and  interest."  Mr.  Selligman  here  came  forward  a  second  time,  and 
gave  twenty  dollars  more  for  the  next  two  men  who  should  volunteer. 
Four  men  named  William  Burrisson,  Michael  Brannagan,  John  Xugeut  and 
Francis  Connolly  stepped  forward  and  were  accepted.  In  one  hour  the 
entire  six  had  passed  the  medical  inspection  and  were  mustered  into  the  ser 
vice.  Mr.  Selligman  was  so  delighted  with  the  result  of  his  liberal  donation 
to  the  Brigade,  that  the  next  day  he  and  his  brother  waited  on  Mr.  Hen 
nessey  and  presented  him  with  §100  to  be  given  to  the  next  ten  recruits.*' 

[  John  Hennessey  was  at  that  time  and  for  many  years  previously  one 
of  the  representative  men  of  his  race  in  Xew  York.  Xoue  of  his  fellow 
countrymen  were  more  universally  known  personally  or  more  esteemed  for 
his  sturdy  independence  of  character  and  his  demonstrative  patriotism.  His 
towering  stature  made  him  conspicuous  in  every  assemblage  convened  in  the 
interest  of  Ireland,  and  his  heart  was  proportionally  large;  his  spirit  was 
as  fiery  and  as  quick  to  resent  an  insult  to  his  country  or  her  friends,  as 


454  MEMOIRS    OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FEAXCIS  MEAGHER. 

his  brawny  fist  or  the  formidable  snnvenir  of  his  native  Kilkenny  woods, 
which  it  usually  carried  out  of  doors,  was  to  impress  the  offender  with  a 
salutary  sense  of  his  rashness  in  venting  his  anti-Irish  spleen  while  "  Big 
John  Hcnnessy"  was  around.  Like  all  genuine  Irishmen,  he  was  enthusi 
astically  proud  of  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  and  from  the  arrival  of  the 
latter  in  America,  he  was  among  the  warmest  and  most  esteemed  of  his 
personal  friends.  As  stated  in  a  previous  portion  of  this  work,  the  Irish 
patriot's  advent  in  this  country  was  followed  by  a  series  of  scurrilous 
attacks  in  the  British  papers  and  their  anti-Irish  satellites  in  America. 
Foremost  among  the  subsidized  scribblers  engaged  in  this  dirty  work  was  an 
English  adventurer,  who  masqueraded  under  the  self-assumed  title  of  "  Count 
Johannes."  The  blackguard's  insignificance  protected  him,  for  the  time 
being,  from  the  consequences  which  his  malevolence  richly  merited.  But 
he  was  not  destined  to  go  unpunished  forever.  Years  afterwards,  in  an 
unlucky  hour,  his  evil  genius  led  him  to  John  Hennessy's  house  on  some 
business  or  other.  He  was  personally  unknown  to  Mr.  Hennessy;  but  no 
sooner  did  he  reveal  his  identity  to  the  stalwart  John  than  the  irate  Graig- 
namana  man  thundered  out:  u  So  you're  the  scoundrel  who  villified  Thomas 
Francis  Meagher!"  and  without  giving  the  dumb-founded  culprit  time  to 
stammer  forth  a  denial  or  excuse,  he  incontinently  ran  him  to  the  open 
door,  and  by  a  vigorous  and  scientific  application  of  his  ponderous  foot 
propelled  him  from  the  top  of  the  high  stoop  to  receive  a  repetition  of  the 
galvanic  shock  from  contact  with  the  curbstone,  and  there  left  him  to  sigh 
involuntarily. — "  Oh!  what  a  fall  was  thtrt!""1 

As  soon  afterwards  as  the  graceless  "  Count"  was  able  to  limp  around 
on  crutches,  he  had  the  assailant  of  his  doubly-injured  honor  summoned 
before  the  Police  Court,  where  he  dramatically  recited  his  serio-comic  story 
to  the  infinite  amusement  of  his  unsympathetic  audience,  who,  when  "  His 
Honor"  dismissed  the  case  with  a  caution  to  the  plaintiff  to  beware  how  he 
repeated  his  offence,  passed  a  unanimous  verdict  of:  "titroed  him  rig/if!"] 

Up  to  this  time  I  had  not  seen  General  Meaner,  since  our  parting  on 
the  pier  nearly  ten  mouths  previously,  on  the  day  of  my  departure  for 
Ireland.  I  had  been  back  in  New  York  about  three  months,  when  one 
morning,  while  in  the  office  of  the  Fenian  Brotherhood,  6  Centre  street,  I 
was  surprised  and  delighted  by  the  entrance  of  "Frank  Murray,"  one  of 
my  old  comrades  of  the  "Picenix  Zouaves."  who  had  gone  into  active  ser 
vice  with  the  Irish  Brigade,  by  way  of  advancing  his  military  education. 

Frank  was  a  tall,   handsome,   and   athletic    young  fellow,   and    when   Col- 


MEAGI1ER  IN  NEW   YORK.  455 

onel  Xngeut  offered  him  the  position  of  Sergeant-Major  in  the  69th  —  he 
accepted  it  —  conditional  on  his  g"tting  the  consent  of  his  Company.  On 
his  stating  the  case  to  his  comrades  one  of  them  sug;  es  <•  1  that  if  he  was 
to  go  with  the  regiment,  he  had  better  take  the  position  of  First-Sergeant 
in  one  of  the  companies,  inasmuch  as  he  was  well  fitted  for  that,  while 
his  inexperience  in  battailiou  movements  hardly  qualified  him  for  the  one 
proftered  him. 

His   answer  was  unanswerable :  — 

"  That's  their  look-out  —  not  mine :  for,  be  jabers  !  if  they  offered  to 
make  me  a  Major-General  instead  of  a  Sergeant-Major  —  I'd  accept." 

Of  course  after  that,  there  was  no  further  impediments  thrown  in  the 
way  of  such  an  aspiring  genius.  He  got  carte  blanche  to  follow  the  bent 
of  his  laudable  ambition. 

Well,  in  my  brave  Frank's  first  fight  — a  Fair  Oaks ''  —  he  got  a  ball 
through  the  thigh,  and  was  laid  up  in  hospital  (in  Philadelphia,  I  think,) 
for  over  two  months.  When  he  was  able  to  walk  around  with  the  help  of 
a  stick,  he  felt  an  irrepressible  longing  to  see  his  friends  and  comrades  in 
New  York  and  applied  to  the  Surgeon  in  charge  for  a  ''furlough,"  but 
was  refused.  He  then  took  the  responsibility  of  going  without  leave,  and 
—  "  here  he  was." 

In  reciting  his  story  he  unbuttoned  his  coat  and  showed  me  the  gold- 
embroidered  green  vest  of  the  Zouaves"  —  which  he  had  carried  with  him 
from  Xi-w  York,  and  constantly  worn  during  his  absence  —  as,  if  'twas  his 
fortune  to  fall  in  battle  —  he  wished  to  die  with  "the  color  of  his  father- 
laid"  over  his  heart.  He  wished  to  leave  me  a  "Power  of  Attorney"  — 
in  case  he  fell  in  any  future  engagement  —  to  receive  whatever  money  was 
belonging  to  him  and  convert  it  to  the  use  of  the  company.  This  I  posi 
tively  refused  to  do,  and  was  trying  to  laugh  him  out  of  the  gruesome 
thoughts  of  will-making  —  when  the  door  opened  and  in  walked — General 
Meagher. 

We  both  jump  d  to  «ur  feet.  I  to  grasp  his  outstretched  hand  and  respond 
to  his  cordial  greeting.  Frank  to  assume  a  military  attitude  and  salute  his 
General. 

Meagher  was    evidently   as  much   surprised  as  was  Frank  at  the  unlooked 
for  recontre  —  as  his  tone   implied   when  he  remarked:  — 
"  Is  it  here  you  are,   Murray  ? " 
"It  is,   General  ?" 
"Did  *-ou  get  a  furlough  from   the  hospral?" 


456  MEMOIS8   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 

"I  did  not,  General.  I  asked  it  from  the  doctor,  but  he  refused  my 
request." 

"And  so  you  left  without  permission!" 

"Yes,   General.'' 

"Hem! — Did  you  get  your  pay   yet." 

"I   did  not  General." 

"  Well,  you  had  better  go  the  Paymaster's  office  and  get  it,  and  then 
return  to  the  hospital  as  quick  as  you  can,  and  if  any  questions  are  asked 
concerning  your  absence,  say  you  saw  me  in  Xew  York,  and  explained  your 
presence  there  to  me." 

Whereupon  Frank  again  saluted  and  took  his  departure  —  for  the  time. 
No  sooner  had  he  left  than  the  General,  addressing  me,  said :  — 

"  That's  all  the  fault  of  you  Fenians.  There's  such  a  mysterious  attrac 
tion  in  your  Brotherhood  that  no  risks  to  be  incurred,  can  keep  ye  apart." 

I  answered  that,  in  the  present  instance,  I  would  assume  the  responsi 
bility  —  on  behalf  of  the  rest  of  us  —  of  whatever  blame  he  may  attach  to 
it  —  which,  however,  I  thought  would  be  very  little  —  after  he  had  all  the 
circumstances  explained.  I  then  related  Frank's  whole  story,  and  when  I 
mentioned  the  incident  of  his  wearing  the  Zouave  vest,  he  was  visibly  af 
fected,  and  said  —  in  a  tone  of  admiration  —  "Poor  fellow!  how  devoted 
he  is  to  the  old  cause." 

We  then  had  a  long  conversation  over  the  events  that  transpired  since 
our  last  meeting.  He  was  peculiarly  gratified  by  the  action  taken  by  the 
Irish  Nationalists  at  the  great  meeting  convened  in  Dublin  to  sympathi/e 
with  the  cause  of  the  Union,  and  on  the  effect  produced  thereby  on  the 
Irish  people  at  large,  and  their  enemies  —  the  English  Government  and  their 
landlord  garrison, 

A  few  evenings  afterwards,  General  Meagher  addressed  a  large  and  most 
enthusiastic  meeting  in  the  Armory  of  the  Seventh  Regiment,  X.  Y.  S.  N.  G., 
(that  which  has  for  some  years  past  been  occupied  by  the  69th).  Then  it 
was  that  he  rela  ed  the  incident  which  gave  rise  *to  the  Kebel  General's 
bitter  exclamation — 

'•  Here  comes  that  damned   Green   Flag   again!" 

On  that  occasion,  also,  he  read  a  letter  from  Captain  John  H.  Donovan, 
of  the  Sixty-ninth,  Irish  Brigade,  who  had  an  eye  shot  out  at  Malvern 
Hill,  was  left  for  dead  on  the  field,  and  fell  next  day,  into  the  hands  of 
the  enemy.  When  he  fell,  (as  he  thought  mortally)  wounded,  he  requested 


MEAGHER   IN   NEW    YORK.  457 

a  comrade  to  take  his  sword  —  that  it  might  be  secured  from  the  enemy : 
and  when  questioned  about  it  by  his  captors  he  told  them  that  the  sword 
was  "  where  they  would  never  get  it.''  Whereupon  one  of  the  rebel  Gen 
erals  remarked  —  alluding  to  the  hero's  fearful  wound  — 

"  You'll  never  require  it   again,    any   way." 

To    this    Donovan    retorted:    "I  have   one  eye  yet   to  risk  for  the   Union 
—  and  when  that,   too,   goes  —  then  —  I'll  go  it  blind." 


458  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS    FRANCIS  MEAGHEE. 


CHAPTER   LXVI. 


ANTIETAM.  —  FEEDERICKSBURG.  —  CHAXCELLORSVILLE. 

Oh!   Hurrah!   for  the  men,  who,  when  danger  is  n!gh, 
Are  lound  !n   the  front,  looking  Death  in  the  eye." 

1>AVIS. 

NOTWITHSTANDING  the  efforts  of  General  Meagher  and  his  zealous  friends 
in  New  York,  the  progress  of  filling  up  the  depleted  ranks  of  the  Irish 
Brigade  was  not  commensurate  with  their  expectations.  Tlie  time  was  not 
propitious  for  obtaining  Irish  recruits  of  the  quality  desired,  for  several 
reasons  —  of  which,  perhaps,  one  of  the  most  consequential  was,  that  only 
a  few  weeks  had  elapsed  since  the  69th  N.  Y.  S.  M.,  under  Colonel  Mat 
thew  Murphy,  had  volunteered  for  a  second  three  months'  service  in  res 
ponse  to  a  call  from  the  President,  and,  as  the  original  members  of  the 
69th  Regiment  constituted  but  a  mere  nucleus  of  the  new  organization,  the 
balance  was  mostly  made  up  of  the  Fenian  associates  of  the  popular  young 
Colonel  —  the  very  element  that  would  most  promptly  respond  to  Meagher's 
call  —  had  it  been  the  first  made. 

Such  recruits  as  had  been  obtained  were  hardly  prepared  to  join  the 
Brigade  in  the  field  before  the  latter  were  called  on  to  enter  upon  a  new 
campaign,  and  one  entailing  more  sacrifices  than  that  which  terminated  at 
Malvern  Hill. 

The  evacuation  of  the  Peninsula  had  been  ordered  from  Washington,  and 
McClellan  superseded  by  Pope;  but  the  defeat  of  the  latter  at  Manassas  — 
and  the  consequent  invasion  of  Maryland  by  Lee's  victorious  army,  induced 
the  authorities  to  recall  McClellan  to  the  chief  command,  and  send  him  in 
pursuit  of  the  invaders. 

The  Irish  Brigade  did  not  participate  in  the  battle  of  Manassas ;  for 
when  General  Meagher  rejoined  it  at  Harrison's  Landing,  it  was  under  or 
ders  to  proceed  to  Fortress  Monroe,  by  way  of  Williamsburg  and  York- 
town. 

From    Fortress  Monroe   the   brigade   was  hurripdly  ordered  to   Washington 


ANTIETAM.  459 


—  and  thence  into  Maryland  —  where  it  took  part  in  the  great  battle  of  An- 
tietam —  a  fight  in  which  it  conspicuously  upheld  the  military  renown  of  its 
gallant  race,  at  the  expense  of  a  greater  sacrifice  of  life  than  It  sustained 
in  any  other  engagement  during  the  war. 

ANTIETAM. 

The  battle  of  Antietam  was  fought  on  September  17th,  18G2;  it  lasted 
fourteen  hours.  The  Union  forces  engaged  numbered  87.000.  The  Confeder 
ates  were  estimated  by  McClellan  in  his  official  report  of  the  battle,  at 
97.000.  McClellan  refers  to  the  part  taken  by  the  Irish  Brigade  in  the 
engagement  —  as  follows:  — 

FROM  GENERAL  MCCLELLAN'S  OFFICIAL  BEPORT. 

"On  the  left  of  General  French,  General  Kichardson's  Division  was  hotly 
engaged.  Having  crossed  the  Autietam  about  9.30  A.  M.,  at  the  ford  crossed 
by  the  other  divisions  of  Sumner's  corps,  it  moved  on  a  line  nearly  parallel 
to  the  Antietam,  and  formed  in  a  ravine  behind  the  high  grounds  overlooking 
Boulette's  house;  the  Second  (Irish)  Brigade,  commanded  bv  General  Meagher, 
on  the  right,  the  Third  Brigade,  commanded  by  General  Caldwell,  on  his 
left  and  the  brigade  commanded  by  Colonel  Brooke.  Fifty-third  Pennsylvania 
Volunteers,  in  support.  As  the  div^iou  moved  forward  to  take  its  position 
on  the  field,  the  enemy  directed  a  fire  of  artillery  against  it,  but,  ovviug 
to  the  irregularities  of  the  ground,  did  but  little  damage. 

u  Mt-agher's  Brigade,  advancing  steadily,  soon  became  engaged  with  the 
enemy,  posted  to  the  left  and  in  front  of  lioulette's  house.  It  continued  to 
advance  under  a  heavy  fire,  nearly  to  the  crest  of  the  hill  overlooking  Piper's 
house,  the  enemy  being  posted  in  a  continuation  of  the  sunken  road  and 
corn-field  before  referred  to.  Here  the  brave  Irish  Brigade  opened  upon  the 
enemy  a  terrific  musketry  fire. 

"All  ol  General  Sumner's  corps  was  now  engaged  —  General  Sedgwick 
on  the  right.  General  French  in  the  centre,  and  General  Richardson  on  the 
left.  The  Irish  Brigade  sustained  its  well-earned  reputation.  After  suffering 
terribly  in  officers  and  men,  and  strewing  the  ground  with  their  enemies  as 
they  drove  them  back,  their  ammunition  nearly  expended,  and  their  com 
mander,  General  Meagher,  disabled  by  the  fall  of  his  horse,  shot  under 
him.  this  biigade  was  ordered  to  give  place  to  General  Cald well's  brigade, 
which  advanced  to  a  short  distance  in  its  rear.  The  lines  were  passed  by 
the  Irish  Biigade,  breaking  by  company  to  the  rear,  and  General  Caldwell's, 


•JCO 


31EMOI11S    OF   GEX.    THOMAS  FEAXCIti  MEAG-I1E11 


by   company   to    the  front,    as   steadily   as   on  drill.     Colonel  Brooke's   brigade 
now    became   the  second   line. 

"  The  ground  over  which  Generals  RicViardson's  and  French's  divisions 
were  fighting  was  very  irregular,  interseciel  by  numerous  ravines,  hills 
covered  with  growing  corn,  inclosed  by  stone  walls,  behind  which  the  enemy 
could  advance  unobserved  upon  any  exposed  point  of  our  lines." 

AN  AMERICAN  OFFICER  ON  THE  BRIGADE  AT  ANTIETAM:. 

Captain  Edward  Field  of  the  U.  S.  Artillery, — from  whose  graphic 
and  friendly  sketches  of  the  brigade  I  have  made  several  interesting  extracts 
in  the  course  of  this  work  —  thus  bears  testimony  to  their  valor  at  An 
tietam  :  — 

"  At  Antietam   came 

THE  CROWNING  GLORY  OF  THE  IRISH  BRIGADE. 

"  When  French's  division,  containing  many  new  troops,  was  so  roughly 
handled,  the  brigade  was  sent  in  on  the  left  of  Dunker's  Church,  and  slowly 
forced  the  enemy  back  beyond  the  famous  sunken  road,  which  had  been 
filled  with  corpses  by  an  enfilading  fire  from  one  of  our  batteries,  and  pre 
sented  the  most  ghastly  spectacle  of  the  war.  Using  this  lane  as  a  breast 
work,  they  held  it  to  the  close  of  the  fight,  losing  not  a  prisoner,  having 
not  one  straggler,  but  at  a  loss  of  life  that  was  appalling.  One  regiment 
lost  nearly  fifty  per  cent.,  another  over  thirty.  The  rebels  seemed  to  have 
a  special  spite  against  the  green  flag,  and  five  color-bearers  were  shot  down 
successively  in  a  short  time.  As  the  last  man  fell  even  these  Irishmen  hes 
itated  a  moment  to  assume  a  task  synonymous  with  death.  ''  Big  Gleason," 
Captain  of  the  Sixty-third,  six  feet  seven,  sprang  forward  and  snatched  it 
up.  In  a  few  minutes  a  bullet  struck  the  staff,  shattering  it  to  pieces; 
Gleason  tore  the  fl;ig  from  the  broken  staff,  wrapped  it  around  his  body, 
putting  his  sword-belt  over  it,  and  went  through  the  rest  of  that  fight 
untouched." 

Colonel  William  F.  Fox.  107th  N.  Y.  V.,  in  an  interesting  article  enti 
tled  '-The  Chances  of  Being  Hit  in  Battle,"  which  appeared  in  The  Century 
for  May,  1888,  makes  the  percentge  loss  of  the  69th  and  63d  Regiments  at 
Antietam  much  greater  than  the  above  estimate.  Here  are  his  figures :  — 


REGIMENTS. 

Present.  ;Kilieciaiul  Wounded.  Per  Cent. 

69th  New 

York. 

Autietam, 

Md.,     .     .     . 

317 

196 

61 

63d    New 

York. 

Antietam, 

Hd.,    .... 

341 

202 

59 

O" 


ANTIETAX.  461 


The  Times  correspondent  —  who  was  never  suspected  of  partiality  to  the 
Irish  —  thus  writes  of  the  brigade  at  Antietam :  — 

"In  less  than  half  an  hour  after  taking  this  position,  Gen.  Meagher 
was  ordered  to  enter  the  field  with  the  Irish  Brigate.  They  marched  up 
to  the  brow  of  the  hill,  cheering  as  they  went,  led  by  Gen.  Meagher  in 
person,  and  were  welcomed  with  cheers  by  French's  Brigade.  The  musketry 
fighting  at  this  point  was  the  severest  and  most  deadly  ever  witnessed  be 
fore  —  so  acknowledged  by  veterans  in  the  service.  Men  on  both  sides  fell 
in  large  numbers  every  minute,  and  those  who  were  eye-witnesses  of  the 
struggle  did  not  think  it  possible  for  a  single  man  to  escape.  The  enemy 
here,  at  first,  were  concealed  behind  a  knoll,  so  that  only  their  heads 
were  exposed.  The  brigade  advanced  up  the  slope  with  a  cheer,  when 
-a  most  deadly  fire  was  poured  in  by  a  second  line  of  the  enemy  concealed 
in  the  Sharpsburg  road,  which  at  this  place  is  several  feet  lower  than  the 
surrounding  surface,  forming  a  complete  rifle-pit,  and  also  from  a  force  par 
tially  concealed  still  further  to  the  rear. 

"  The  line  of  the  brigade,  in  its  advance  up  the  hill,  was  broken  in 
the  centre  temporarily  by  an  obstruction  —  the  right  wing  having  advanced 
to  keep  up  with  the  colors  —  and  fell  back  a  short  distance,  when  General 
Meagher  directed  that  a  rail  fence  —  which  the  enemy  a  few  minutes  before 
had  been  fighting  behind  —  should  be  torn  down.  His  men,  in  face  of  a 
galling  fire,  obeyed  the  order,  when  the  whole  brigade  advanced  to  the 
brow  of  the  hill,  cheering  as  they  went,  and  causiug  the  enemy  to  fall 
back  to  their  second  line  —  the  Sharpsburg  road  —  which  is  some  three  feet 
lower  than  the  surrounding  surface. 

"  In  this  road  were  massed  a  large  force  of  infantry,  and  here  was  the 
most  hotly  contested  point  of  the  day.  Each  brigade  of  this  division  was 
brought  into  action  at  this  point,  and  the  struggle  was  truly  terrific  for 
more  than  four  hours  —  the  enemy  finally,  however,  were  forced  from  their 
position. 

'•In  this  work  the  Xew  York  German  battery,  stationed  on  the  hill 
across  the  crick,  rendered  tllicieut  service  by  pouring  m  upon  their  massed 
forces  a  constant  stream  of  20-pound  shells.  General  Caldwell's  brigade  was 
next  ordeied  into  action  by  Giiaral  l?ichardson  in  person.  They,  too, 
advanced  ii1  good  order,  cheering,  and  were  received  with  cheers  by  the  Irish 
Brigade. 

k%  The  brigade  suffered  terribly.  General  Meagher's  horse  was  shot  under 
him,  and  a  bullet  passed  through  his  clothes.  The  Sixty-third  Regiment  of 
tais  brigade,  always  conspicuous  for  deeds  of  daring  in  battle,  was  partic- 


4G2 


•  ME  MO  IE  S   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  ME  AGUES. 


ularly  so  in  the  battle  of  Antietam.  The  colors  were  shot  down  sixteen 
times,  and  on  each  occasion  a  man  was  ready  to  spring  forward  and  place 
the  colors  in  front.  John  Hartigan,  a  member  of  Company  H,  and  only 
sixteen  years  old,  went  some  distance  in  advance  of  the  regiment  with  the 
colors,  and  waved  them  defiantly  in  the  face  of  the  enemy.  The  whole 
brigade  gave  a  cheer  that  was  heard  along  the  lines  for  a  mile,  when  it 
advanced  up  the  rising  ground  and  drove  the  enemy  from  a  strong  position. 

"  Company  H  was  commanded  by  Lieutenant  John  H.  Gleason,  formerly 
of  the  Irish  Papal  Brigade,  Italy." 

The  following  official  report  of  the  casualties  of  the  Irish  Brigade  at 
Antietam  is  taken  from  "The  War  of  the  Rebellion,"  Volume  XIX. 


COMMAND. 

Killed. 

Wounded. 

Captured  or 
missing. 

Aggregate. 

Officers. 

T3 
O      . 

$8 

7  S 
H 

Officers. 

Enlisted 
men. 

Officers. 

-a 

03  . 

«;  a 

JS  03 

cS 

H 

Second  Brigade. 
Brlg.-Gen.  THOMAS  FJBANCIS  MEAGHEK. 

Staff,          ...... 
29th  Massachusetts, 
63d    New  York,      .... 

4 
4 
2 

7 
31 
40 
25 

1 

5 

6 
2 

29 
160 
146 
73 

3 
2 

1 
39 
202 
196 
102 

S8ih  New  York,      .... 
Total   Second  Brigade,    . 

10 

103 

14 

408 

5 

540 

The  ten  officers  killed  were :  — 

Captain  JOHN  CAVANAGH,        ....  Sixty-third. 

Lieut.   PATEICK  W.  LYDON,     ....  Sixty-third. 

Lieut.  CADWALADER  SMITH,    ....  Sixty-third. 

Lieut.   HENRY  MCCONNELL,      ....  Sixty-third. 

Captain  FELIX  DUFFY, Sixty-ninth. 

Lieut.  JOHN  CONWAY. Sixty-ninth. 

Lieut.  PATPICK  J.   KELLY,      ....  Sixty-ninth. 

Lieut.   CHARLES  WILLIAMS.      ....  Sixty-ninth. 

Captain  JOHN   O'CONNELL  JOYCE,  .        .        .  Eighty-eighth. 

Captain  PATRICK  F.   CLOONEY.        .        .        .  Eighty-eighth. 


NOTE.  —  I  regret  that  it  is  not  at  present  in    my  power  to  give  a  more 
extended  notice  of  those   dead    heroes  —  some  of   whom  were,   moreover,   my 


FREDERICKSBURG.  4G3 


warm  personal  friends.  On  some  future  occasion  I  hope  to  be  enabled  to 
do  more  adequate  justice  to  their  memories,  and  to  those  of  others  oi  their 
gallant  brothers. 

"  Who  fell  In  the  cause  they  hart  vowed  to  maintain." 

GOD  REST  THEM! 

FREDERICKSBURG. 

"  And  If  at  eve,  boys, 

Comrades  shall   grieye,  boys, 
O'er  our  corses — let  It  be  with  pride,— 

When  thinking  that  each,   boys, 

On  that  red   beach,  boys, 
Lie*  the  flood  mark  of  the  battle's  tide." 

M.  J.  BARRY. 

In  less  than  two  months  after  the  battle  of  Antieram,  General  McClel- 
lan  was,  lor  the  second  time,  relieved  from  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  and  General  Buruside  appointed  in  his  place.  In  the  mean  time 
the  Irish  Brigade  had  been  reinforced  by  the  116th  Penn.  Volunteers  —  a 
new  Irish  regiment  which,  in  its  first  fight,  a  month  subsequently,  proved 
itself  worthy  of  a  place  beside  its  veteran  comrades  in  arms. 

On  the  23d  of  November  following,  the  brigade  was  further  strengthened 
by  the  access-ion  of  the  28:h  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  which  had  been  ori 
ginally  destined  and  specially  raised  for  it.  Under  that  impression  hundreds 
of  fine  young  Irishmen  had  joined  its  ranks;  yet,  through  some  unexplained 
cause,  this  splendid  regimert  was  at  first  assigned  to  the  Ninth  Army  Corps  at 
Port  Royal,  but  through  the  influence  of  General  Sumner  it  was  transferred 
from  the  Ninth  to  the  Second  Corps,  and,  to  the  gratification  of  all  con 
cerned,  it  was  assigned  ,to  the  Irish  Ciigade,  of  General  Hancock's  Division. 

The  28th  Massachusetts  was  commanded  by  Colonel  Richard  Byrne,  a 
brave  and  accomplished  soldier,  who,  ihough  only  in  his  thirtieth  year,  had 
already  served  for  thirteen  years  in  the  United  States  Cavalry  under  Colo 
nel,  (afterwards)  General,  Sumner,  on  whose  recommendation  he  had  been 
commissioned  as  First  Lieutenant  in  the  Fifih  United  States  Cavalry, — from 
which,  on  the  recommendation  of  General  Averiil.  he  was  transferred  to  the 
colonelcy  of  the  28th  Massachusetts  Volunteer  Infantry. 

The  29th  Massachusetts  Volunteers  had,  by  this  time  been  detached  from 
the  Irish  Brigade.  The  brigade  was  now  distinctively  and  thoroughly  Irisa 
in  all  its  component  parts  —  the  aggregate  strength  of  its  five  regiments 


4Gt  MEMOIRS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

amounting    to    a    little    over     1.300    effective    men:  —  about    the    number    with 
which  the  old   Sixty-ninth   entered  on  its  first  campaign. 

THE  CONFEDERATE  POSITION  AT  FREDERICKSBURG.  —  THE  BATTLE-FIELD. 

The  town  of  Fredericksburg  is  situated  at  the  southern  side  of  the  Rap- 
pahannock  Eiver,  sixty  miles  from  Richmond  and  fifty-five  from  Washing 
ton.  During  the  war  it  had  a  population  of  about  five  thousand. 

The  Eappa'nnnnock,  at  this  point  is  skirted  by  low  crests  of  hills,  which 
,  on  the  northern  bank  run  parallel  and  close  to  the  river,  and  on  the  oppo 
site  side  strerch  backward  from  the  river,  and  leave  a  semi-circular  plain  six 
miles  in  length  and  from  two  to  three  miles  in  breadth  enclosed  within  their 
line  before  they  again  approach  the  river.  Immediately  above  the  town  the 
blufl's  are  bold  and  bare  of  trees,  but  as  the  hills  in  their  course  eastward 
recede  from  the  river  they  become  lower  and  are  densely  wooded,  while 
low  spurs,  covered  with  copse-wood,  run  down  at  right-angles  to  the  range 
into  the  plain. 

On  this  range  of  hills,  and  behind  and  between  these  spurs  —  in  the 
second  week  of  December,  1862.  General  Lee's  army,  seventy  thousand  strong, 
was  posted,  extending  for  a  distance  of  six  miles  from  the  extreme  left, 
and  ending  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Massaponax  Creek  —  which 
joins  the  Eappahaunock  five  miles  below  Fredericksburg.  The  command  of 
General  Longstreet  occupied  that  portion  of  the  range  m  the  immediate  vici 
nity  of  Fredericksburg,  his  right  resting  on  Marye's  Hill,  on  the  crest  of 
which  was  posted  Colonel  Walton's  far-famed  Washington  Artillery,  sup 
ported  by  a  Georgia  rifle  regiment  commanded  by  Colonel  McMillan,  an  Irish 
officer. 

At  the  base  of  the  hill  ran  a  road  skirted  by  a  stone  wall  —  of  sufficient 
lie  i;ht  to  conceal  the  road  behind  n  from  an  enemy  approaching  across  the 
plain  between  it  and  the  town.  Behind  this  wall  a  brigade  of  Confederate 
infantry,  commanded  by  General  Thomas  K.  Cobb,  had  thrown  up  an 
entrenchment,  thus  converting  it  into  a  formidable  breastwork.  That  por 
tion  of  the  plain  between  the  wall  and  the  town,  was  not  onlv  exposed  to 
the  close-range  fire  of  these  concealed  riflemen,  and  the  flanking  fire  from 
a  row  of  rifle-pits  constructed  behind  a  rail-fence  running  diagonally  from 
the  wall  towards  the  town  —  on  the  right  of  the  attacking  party  —  but  it' 
"was  so  completely  commanded  by  the  battery  on  the  crest  of  the  hill  that  Col. 
Alexander,  Chief  of  Artillery  to  General  Longstreet,  observed  to  him  on 


FliEDEEWKSB  UR  G.  4G5 


the    day   before    the    battle — •'  We    ivill    comb    it  as  with  a  fine-tooth  comb.    A 
chicken  could  not  live  on  that   3eld  when  we  open  fire." 

About  midway  between  the  stonewall  and'  the  town,  the  plain  is  trav 
ersed  by  a  canal  or  mill-race.  Two  roads  cut  the  plain  nearly  at  right 
angles  with  the  canal,  the  one,  a  plank  road,  the  other  the  Telegraph  Road 
leading  to  Richmond.  These  roads  led  into  the  town  by  streets  running  at 
right  angles  to  the  river.  They  crossed  the  canal  by  plank  bridges.  Be 
tween  the  canal  and  the  stone  wall  the  ground  was  obstructed  here  and 
there  by  houses  and  garden  fence?.  That  portion  of  the  plain  over  which 
the  Union  forces  charged  to  the  assault,  after  passing  the  canal,  comprised 
about  ten  or  twelve  acres.  The  night  of  the  13th  of  December,  1862,  the 
killed  and  wounded  of  the  Federal  army  on  this  contracted  space  averaged 
a  thousand  to  the  acre,  —  one  out  of  every  twenty  being  a  soldier  of  the  Irish 
Brigade. 

BURNSIDE'S  POSITION  BEFORE   THE  BATTLE.  —  FATAL  RESULT  OF  ms 
INCAPACITY  AND  RASHNESS. 

Burnside's  forces,  comprising  110.000  effective  men,  occupied  the  range 
of  hills  on  the  northern  side  of  the  Rappahannock.  On  the  evening  of  De 
cember  9th  the  Commanding-General  called  a  Council  of  War  of  his  corps 
and  division  commanders,  at  which  he  informed  them  of  his  intention  to  muke 
a  direct  assault  on  Marye's  Hill,  which  he  regarded  as  the  key  of  the 
enemy's  position.  It  has  been  stated  that  not  one  of  those  gallant  veterans 
sanctioned  the  project.  But  Burnside  was  determined  that,  cost  what  it 
would,  the  attempt  should  be  made,  —  and  his  subordinates,  as  in  duty 
bound,  prepared  to  obey  his  orders. 

Under  the  protection  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-nine  guns  commanding- 
the  river  and  the  town  beyond,  five  pontoon  bridges  were  thrown  across  the 
L';ippahannock  on  the  night  of  the  llth  of  December,  and  early  the  next  mor 
ning  the  Union  army  commenced  to  cross  and  occupy  Fredericksburg,  prepara 
tory  to  an  assault  on  the  heights  in  rear  of  the  town.  But,  excepting  an  artillery 
duel  between  a  Fedeial  battery  and  the  '-Richmond  Howitzers,"  commanded 
by  Cuptain  u  Ned.  MacCarthy."  there  was  no  fightirg  of  any  consequence  on 
that  day.  In  the  evening  all  was  quiet,  and  it  was  thought  by  many  on 
both  sides  that  Burnside  would  order  his  army  to  recross  the  river,  without 
attacking  the  strongly  entrenched  Confederate  position. 

But  the  seeming  calm  was  only  the  prelude  to  the  most  disastrous  storm 
encountered  by  the  Union  army  during  the  war.  Volumes  have  been  writ 

30 


466  MEMOIRS    OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  M 

ten  on  the  history  of  that  unprecedented  carnage,  and  it  is  unnecessary  to 
record  its  sickening  details  here,  —  not  even  those  in  which  General  Meagher 
and  his  brigade  were  more  particularly  interested.  For  what  I  have  to 
record  of  their  conduct  in  the  battle  I  shall  quote  from  other  than  Irish 
authorities  —  though  having  plenty  of  the  latter  at  my  disposal. 

I  must,  however,  premise  that  on  this  occason  the  three  old  regiments  of 
the  Irish  Brigade,  for  the  first  time,  went  into  action  without  their  Green 
Flairs,  (the  28th  Massachusetts  alone  carrying  the  national  colors).  A  month 
previously,  the  remnants  of  the  tattered  colors  which  they  had  borne  triumph 
antly  on  every  battlefield  from  Fair  Oaks  to  Antietam,  had  been  sent  to  New 
Tork  to  be  treasured  as  souvenirs  of  Irish  loyalty  and  bravery,  and  were  to  be 
replaced  by  a  new  set  of  colors  presented  to  the  brigade  by  a  number  of  na 
tive-born  American  gentlemen  in  testimony  of  their  admiration  and  esteem  for 
the  Gaelic  defenders  of  the  Constitution.  The  new  colors  had  been  expected 
in  camp  for  days  previous  to  the  issue  of  the  order  for  crossing  the  river, 
and  grand  preparations  to  receive  them  with  suitable  honors  had  been  made, 
including  a  banquet  to  which  many  of  the  most  distinguished  officers  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  had  been  invited,  and  had  signified  their  intention 
of  being  present.  Captain  Martin,  Brigade  Quartermaster,  was  selected  by 
his  brother  officers  to  proceed  to  Washington  and  procure  materials  for  the 
banquet.  He  fulfilled  his  commission;  but  before  his  return  with  the  viands 
the  brigade  were  in  Fredericksburg,  and  the  banquet  had  to  be  postponed 
—  for  two  days. 

THE  SPRIGS  OP  GREEN.  —  MEAGIIER'S  ADDRESS  TO  THE  SSTH. 

In  the  meantime,  Meagher  resolved  that  his  men  should  carry  the  "col 
ors  of  their  Fatherland"  into  what  promised  to  be  the  bloodiest  fight  that 
ever  took  place  on  the  American  continent ;  and,  accordingly,  on  that  Sat 
urday  morning,  while  the  brigade  was  drawn  up  in  line  of  battle  and  at  a 
'•-parade  rest,"  on  a  street  in  Fredericksburg,  the  General  ordered  that  a 
sprig  of  evergreen  (boxwood)  be  placed  in  each  soldier  and  officer's  cap, 
himself  setting  the  example.  He  then,  accompanied  by  General  Hancock 
and  his  staff,  passed  along  in  front  of  his  -'little  brigade,"  and  addressed 
each  regiment  separately  in  a  few  brief  and  soul-thrilling  sentences.  "When  he 
reached  the  colors  of  the  Eighty-eighth  Regiment,  he  uncovered  his  headand 
said :  — 

"Officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Eighty-eighth  Regiment  —  In  a  few  moments 
you  will  engage  the  enemy  in  a  most  terrible  battle,  which  will  probably 


FBEDEEICKSB  UBQ.  467 


decide  the  fate  of  this  glorious,  great  and  good  country  —  the  home  of  your 
adoption."  The  General  hesitated  a  moment,  and  then  with  eyes  full  to 
overflowing,  and  in  accents  trembling  with  emotion,  said:  "Soldiers  —  This 
is  my  wife's  own  regiment,  '  her  own  dear  Eighty-eighth '  she  calls  it, 
and  I  know,  and  have  confidence,  that  with  dear  woman's  smile  upon  you, 
and  for  woman's  sake,  this  day  you  will  strike  a  deadly  blow  to  those 
wicked  traitors  who  are  now  but  a  few  hundred  yards  from  you,  and  bring 
back  to  this  distracted  country  its  former  prestige  and  glory.  This  may  be 
my  last  speech  to  you,  but  I  will  be  with  you  when  the  battle  is  the 
fiercest;  and.  if  I  fall,  I  can  say  I  did  my  duty,  and  fell  fighting  in  the 
most  glorious  of  causes."* 

A  few   moments   after  the   brigade    rushed  to  the  onset. 

In  testimony  of  how  gallantly  the  Irish  Brigade  maintained  the  soldierly 
renown  of  their  ancient  race  on  that  disastrous  day,  I  will  quote  the  evi 
dence  of  a  few  distinguished  witnesses  —  giving  precedence  to  that  of  the 
typical  American  soldier  — 

GENERAL  HANCOCK. 

EXTRACTS    FROM    GENERAL    HANCOCK'S    OFFICIAL    REPORT   OF   THE    "BATTLE 

OF  FREDERICKSBURG. —  THE  IRISH  BRIGADE  AND  ITS  OFFICERS. — 

ITS  CASUALTIES  COMMENSURATE  WITH  ITS  VALOR. 

"No  ground  was  held  in  advance  of  our  line,  nor  did  any  soldiers  fall 
nearer  the  enemy  than  those  of  the  regiments  of  my  division  and  ihose 
of  Kimbail's  brigade  of  French's  division.  It  seemed  that  the  defenses 
of  the  enemy  were  too  powerful  to  be  taken  by  an  assault  of  infantry. 
One  serious  difficulty  in  the  advance  was  in  the  nature  of  the  obstacles 
already  referred  to,  and  the  fact  that  a  number  of  substantial  fences  inter 
vened,  which  were  required  to  be  pulled  down  before  the  troops  could  con 
tinue  their  advance.  Each  of  these  fences  destroyed  the  unity  of  at  least 
one  brigade.  Tiiese  obstacles  naturally  caused  brigades  and  regiments  to 


*  Among  the  documents  kindly  placed  at  my  disposal  by  Mrs.  General  Meagher,  1 
find  the  following  telegram : 

"  HEAD  QRS.  IRISH  BRIGADE,  Dec.  17,  1862. 
"  To  MRS.  BR.  GEN.  MEAGHER,  129  5th  Ave.,  N.  Y. 

"I  am  quite  safe  with  the  exception  of  a  bruised  kaee.  1  am  remaining  for  the  pres 
ent  with  what  Is  left  of  my  noble  Brigade,  but  should  I  get  the  necessary  permission 
will  return  to  you  as  soon  as  my  wounded  are  cared  1  r. 

"  THOB.  FRANCIS  MEAGHER,  Br.  Gen  " 


468  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FEAXCI3  MEAGUEll 

lose    somewhat    their    solidity   of    organization    for    an    assault,    for    all    these 
operations   were   conducted  under  a  terrific   fire. 

"The  bravery  and  devoti<  n  of  the  troops  could  not  have  been  surpassed, 
as  an  evidence  of  which  it  is  but  necessary  to  mention  the  losses  incurred. 
Out  of  5.00G  men,  the  maximum  taken  into  action  by  me,  the  loss  was 
2.013  men,  of  whom  156  were  commissioned  officers.  It  will  be  observed 
that  the  losses  in  some  of  the  regiments  were  of  unusual  severity,  such  as 
is  seldom  seen  in  any  battle,  no  matter  how  prolonged.  These  were  veteran 
regiments,  led  by  able  and  tried  commanders,  and  I  regret  to  say  that 
their  places  cannot  soon  be  filled. 

"Although  the  division  failed  to  carry  the  enemy's  heights,  it  lost  no 
honor,  but  held  the  ground  it  took,  and.  under  the  most  discouraging 
obstacles,  retained  it  until  relieved  after  the  action  was  over.  It  will  be 
impossible  to  mention  in  this  report  the  names  of  all  those  who  were  dis 
tinguished.  For  those  I  refer  to  the  reports  of  the  brigade  and  regimen 
tal  commanders;  still,  it  is  due  to  their  valor  that  I  should  mention  those 
brigade  and  regimental  commanders  who  performed  the  most  important 
parts,  and  whose  commands,  in  their  heroic  efforts,  most  severely  suffered. 

"  Brig.  Gen.  T.  F.  Meagher.  commanding  Second  Brigade,  led  his  bri 
gade  to  the  field  under  a  heavy  tire;  but,  owing  to  a  serious  lameness.* 
making  it  difficult  for  him  to  either  ride  or  walk,  he  was  unable  to  bear 
that  prominently  active  part  which  is  usual  with  him.  Some  time  after  the 
Irish  Brigade  had  gone  in"o  action,  its  regiments  having  suffered  very 
severely,  and  after  having  been  replaced  by  General  CaJdwell's  brigade, 
General  Meagher  was  instructed  to  collect  the  remnants  of  his  regiments 
ana  march  them  to  the  point  of  formation,  in  order  that  their  cartridge- 
boxes  might  be  refilled. 

'•The  strength  of  this  brigade  when  the  action  commenced  was  92 
officers  and  1,323  enlisted  men.  Its  loss  was  53  commissioned  officers  and 

0 

4S8   men. 

"Col.  Robert  Xugent,  severely  wounded,  commanding  the  Sixty-Ninth 
Isew  York  Volunteers,  conducted  his  troops  with  his  usual  spirit,  and  was 
making  a  fi^al  effort  to  ad^  aiice  when  he  was  shot.  His  regiment  had  19 
commissioned  officers  and  219  enlisted  men  when  the  attack  was  made. 
Its  loss  was  16  officers  wounded  and  112  enlisted  men  killed,  wounded,  and 


*  Caused  by  a  boll  on  his  knee-joint,  which   had  been  prematurely  lanced. 


FREDERICKSBUEG.  469 


missing.      This    gallant    regiment    was    marched    off   the   field    by    its    fourth 
commander  that  day,    the   three   senior  commanders  having   been   wounded. 

"  Col.  Patrick  Kelly,  commanding  the  Eighty-eighth  New  York  Volun 
teers,  was  active  and  resolute,  as  he  always  is,  and,  with  his  regiment, 
performed  their  usual  good  service.  The  Eighty-eighth  numbered  23  com 
missioned  officers  and  229  enlisted  men  when  the  assault  commenced,  of 
which  it  lost  12  officers  and  115  enlisteu  men  killed  and  wounded. 

"  Col.  Dennis  Heenan,  commanding  the  One  hundred  and  sixteenth  Penn 
sylvania  Volunteers,  was  wounded  severely.  His  regiment  suffered  heavily, 
and,  although  comparatively  young  in  the  service,  behaved  handsomely. 
This  regiment  marched  on  the  field  with  17  commissioned  officers  and  230 
enlisted  men.  Its  loss  was  12  officers  wounded  and  77  men  killed,  wounded, 

jd  missing.     The  fourth   officer    in   command   during  the   battle   brought  the 

egiment  off  the  field,   the  others  being  disabled. 

"  Col.  Eichard  Byrnes,  a  veteran  soldier,  commanding  the  Twenty-eighth 
Massachusetts  Volunteers,  displayed  his  excellent  qualities  in  this  action. 
His  regiment  entered  the  action  wirh  16  officers  and  400  men,  of  whom  7 
officers  and  149  enlisted  men  were  killed  and  wounded. 

Maj.  Joseph  O'Neill,  a  brave  officer,  commanding  the  Sixty-third  New  York 
Volunteers,  was  wounded.  His  regiment  numbered  17  officers  and  145  enlisted 
men  when  the  assault  began.  Its  loss  was  7  officers  and  37  enlisted  men 
killed  and  wounded.  This  regiment  had  two  commanders  during  the  day, 
the  first  having  been  wounded." 

The  Confederate  General,  Longstreet,  bears  this  chivalrous  testimony  to 
the  indomitable  courage  of  his  antagonists  in  that  murderous  'fight :  — 

THE  MOST  FEATCFUL  CARNAGE. 

"From  the  moment  of  their  appearance  began  the  most  fearful  carnage; 
with  our  artillery  from  the  front,  right  and  rear,  tearing  through  their 
ranks,  the  Federals  pressing  forward  with  almost  invincible  determination, 
maintaining  their  steady  step  and  closing  up  their  broken  ranks.  Thus  reso 
lutely  they  marched  upon  the  stone  fence,  behiud  which  quietly  waited  the 
Confederate  brigade  of  Gen.  Cobb.  As  they  came  within  reach  of  this  bri 
gade  a  storm  of  lead  was  poured  into  their  advancing  columns  and  they 
were  swept  from  the  field  like  chaff  before  the  wind.  A  cloud  of  smoke 
shut  out  the  scene  for  a  moment,  and  rising  revealed  the  scattered  fragments 
recoiling  from  their  gallant  but  hopeless  charge.  The  artillery  still  plowed 


470  MEMOIRS    OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAG1IE11. 

through    their    retreating    ranks    and    searched  out  the   places  of  concealment 
into  which  the  retreating   troops  had  plunged. 

"So  the  struggle  went  on.  A  fifth  time  the  Federals  formed,  charged, 
and  were  repulsed.  A  sixth  time  they  charged  and  were  driven  back,  when 
night  came  to  end  the  dreadful  carnage  and  the  Federals  withdrew,  leaving 
the  battle-field  literally  heaped  with  the  bodies  of  their  dead.  Before  the 
well-directed  fire  of  Cobb's  brigade  the  Federals  had  fallen  like  the  steady 
dripping  of  the  rain  from  the  eaves  of  a  house.  Our  musketry  alone 
killed  and  wounded  at  least  5.000,  and  these  with  the  slaughter  by  artil 
lery  left  over  7.000  killed  and  wounded  before  the  foot  of  Marye's  Hill. 
The  dead  were  piled  sometimes  three  deep,  and  when  morning  broke  the 
spectacle  we  saw  upon  the  battle-field  was  one  of  the  most  distressing  I 
ever  witnessed.  I  thought  as  I  saw  the  Federals  come  again  and  again  to 
their  death  that  they  deserved  success,  if  courage  and  daring  could  entitle 
soldiers  to  victory." 

GENERAL  EGBERT  A.  LEE'S  TESTIMONY. 

If  any  further  proof  of  the  valor  of  the  Irish  soldiers  at  Fredericks- 
burg  were  necessary,  it  will  be  found  in  the  freely-tendered  eulogy  be 
stowed  on  them  by  the  Commanding-General  of  the  Confederate  army. 

In  an  interview  with  an  ex-chaplain  of  an  Ohio  regiment,  at  the  close 
of  the  war,  General  Lee  spoke  with  enthusiasm  of  the  character  of  the 
Irish  as  soldiers  —  saying  that  "they  played  a  prominent  part  in  all  the 
wars  of  the  world  for  the  last  three  centuries,  now  on  the  one  side,  now 
on  the  other.'  The  Irish  soldier,"  he  said,  '•  fights  not  so  much  for  lucre  as 
through  the  reckless  love  of  adventure,  and,  moreover,  with  a  chivalrous  d>  vo- 
tion  to  the  cause  he  espouses  for  the  time  being.  Clebourne,  on  our  side, 
inherited  the  intrepidity  of  his  race.  On  a  field  of  battle  he  shone  like  a 
meteor  in  a  clouded  sky!  As  a  dashing  military  man  he  was  all  virtue; 
a  single  vice  did  not  stain  him  as  a  warrior.  His  generosity  and  benev 
olence  had  no  limits.  The  care  which  he  took  of  the  fortunes  of  his  offi 
cers  and  soldiers,  from  the  greatest  to  the  least,  was  incessant.  His  integrity 
was  proverbial,  and  his  modesty  was  an  equally  conspicuous  trait  in  his 
character. 

"Meagher,  on  your  side,  though  not  Clebourne's  equal  in  military  genius, 
rivalled  him  in  bravery  and  in  the  affections  of  his  soldiers.  The  gallant 
stand  which  his  bold  brigade  made  on  the  heights  of  Fredericksburg 
is  well  known.  Never  were  men  so  brave.  They  ennobled  their  race  by  their 


THE  DEATH  FEAST.  471 


splendid  gallantry  on  that  desperate  occasion.  Though  totally  routed,  they 
reaped  harvests  of  glory.  Their  brilliant,  though  hopeless  assaults  on  OUT 
lines,  excited  the  hearty  applause  of  our  officers  and  soldiers." 


THE   DEATH   FEAST. 

And  the  room  seemed  filled  with  whispers 

As  we  looked   at  the   vacant  seats, 
And,  with  choking  throats,  we  pushed  aside 
,      The  rich  but  untasted  meats; 
Then  In  sil.  nee  we   brimmed  our  glasses, 

As  we  roee  up— JUST  ELEVEN, 

And   bowed  as  we  drark  to  the  lovec   and  the  dead 
Who  had  made  us  THIRL  Y-SKVEN. 

GEN.  CHAKLES  G.  HALPINB. 

While  on  that  "bloody  Saturday,*'  the  Irish  Brigade  were  being  mowed 
down  by  hundreds  under  ihe  fiery  hail  of  shot  and  shell,  on  the  slope  be 
hind  Fredericksburg.  the  uew  colors,  for  the  reception  of  which  they  had 
made  such  elaborate  preparations,  arrived  from  New  York. 

When  the  fact  was  communicated  to  General  Meogher  and  the  few  unin 
jured  officers  of  his  command,  it  was  determined  to  carry  out  the  original 
progtamine  without  lunher  delay.  Under  the  changed  condition  of  afl'airs 
—  rtcuhing  Iroin  the  unlooked-for  events  of  the  past  week,  —  the  spacious 
hall  which  had  been  constructed  for  the  ceremonial  festivities  in  the  camp 
on  the  northern  side  of  the  river  was  no  longer  available,  and  the  little 
Theatre  of  Frodciicksburg  was  selected  in  its  stead.  Here,  accordingly,  on 
Mouuay,  Dteeiuter  15th,  there  assembled  on  ti.e  stage  twenty-two  Federal 
Generals  around  their  honored  host,  the  presiding  officer  of  the  occasion,  — 
General  Thomas  Francis  Mepgher.  Around  the  walls,  in  the  body  of  the 
edifice,  were  seated  the  officers  of  the  brigade  and  their  guests,  while,  in 
the  centre,  were  ranged  two  rows  of  tables  covered  with  the  requisite  ma 
terial  for  an  elaborate  banquet  —  the  viands  being  cooked  in  the  neighboring 
houses,  and  served  by  a  eoips  of  military  waiters — who  coolly  performed 
their  prescribed  duty,  heedless  of  the  thunderous  boom  of  the  rebel  bat'e- 
ries,  the  screaming  shells  above  their  heads  —  and  the  occasional  bursting  of 
one  of  those  unwelcome  visitors  in  dangerous  proximity  to  the  Theatre  — 
against  which,  it  soon  became  evident,  they  were  specially  directed.  This, 
as  it  subsequently  transpired,  \\as  owing  to  a  sharp-sighted  Confederate 
artillery  officer- havhg  noticed  an  unusual  number  of  staff-officers  congregaU 


472  MEMOIUS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS    FEAXCIS  MEAGHER. 

ing  in  the  vicinity  of  the  edifice,  and  suspecting  that  some  event  of  more 
than  ordinary  importance  was  transpiring  inside,  took  this  spiteful  method 
of  creating  a  disturbance. 

Verily  it  was  a  most  extraordinary  occurrence  that  was  then  taking 
place  inside  those  walls:  —  for  rarely,  if  ever,  was  a  public  banquet  held 
under  such  discouraging  circumstances.  No  wonder  that  even  some  of  the 
most  illustrious  participants  in  the  festivities  at  firt,t  regarded  the  whole 
proceeding  as  inexplicable  —  save  on  the  theory  that  the  Celtic  nature  was 
so  constituted,  and  its  temperament  so  elastic,  that,  from  the  lowest  depth? 
of  depression  it  could  reboui-d  almost  instantaneously  ijito  the  airiest  and 
most  exhilirating  joyousness  of  spirit. 

But  those  guests  who  loked  below  the  surface,  soon  discovered  a  deeper 
and  nobler  cause  for  their  host's  action,  and  that  of  his  comrades  of  the 
brigade.  For  what  time  could  be  more  opportune  for  giving  public  expres 
sion  to  the  feelings  of  bitter  indignation  against  the  political  partizanship 
which  drenched  the  neighboring  fields  with  the  blood  of  the  nation's  best 
and  bravest  defenders — than  when  his  words  found  an  echo  in  the  hearts  of 
those  battle-scarred  '  veterans  surrounding  him  —  whose  flashing  eyes  testified 
to  their  sympathy  with  the  orator's  denunciation  of  the  criminal  incapables, 
even  while  their  compressed  lips  refrained  from  giving  audible  endorsement 
to  his  scathing  indictment? 

After  the  presentation  of  the  new  Colors  to  the  commanding  officers  of 
the  several  Kcgiments  of  the  Brigade  then  present,  and  of  which  the  par 
ticulars  are  given  in  General  Mtagher's  letter  to  the  donors  — hid  taken 
place — the  chairman  commenced,  in  the  usual  form,  to  give  the  toasts  of 
the  evening. 

In  connection  with  the  performance  of  this  portion  of  General  Meagher's 
duties,  a  gallant  officer  of  the  brigade,  then  present,  related  the  following 
thrilling  incident:  — 

"Among  the  Generals  present  on  the  stage,  and  occupying  a  seat  next 
to  General  Meagher.  on  the  left,  was  Brigadier-General  Alfred  Sully,  who 
then  commanded  the  First  Brigade,  Second  Division,  Second  Army  Corps. 
General  Sully  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  of  Irish  parents,  and  was  a  grad 
uate  of  West  Point  Military  Academy.  He  was  a  brave  and  accomplished 
soldier,  a  popular  commander,  and  an  esteemed  friend  of  General  Meagher's. 
Before  his  promotion  he  was  Colonel  of  the  First  Minnesota — which  regi 
ment  constituted  one  of  the  five  in  his  brigade.  The  82d  New  York  Vol 
unteers,  (Irish,)  under  command  of  Meagher's  old  '48  associate,  Lieutenant- 


THE  DEATH  FEAST.  473 


Colonel  James  Huston,  was  another,  and  two  braver  regiments  were  not  in 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  On  rising  to  propose  the  health  of  this  distin 
guished  soldier,  General  Meagher  said :  — 

'"Generals,  brother  officers,  and  comrades  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac; 
fill  your  glasses  to  the  brim.  I  have  the  honor,  the  pride,  and  pleasure, 
to  ask  you  to  drink  to  the  health  of  my  esteemed  friend  on  my  left,  — 
GENERAL  ALFRED  SULLY:  and  I  want  you  to  understand,  gentlemen,  that 
he  is  not  one  of  your  '  Political  Generals.'  but  a  brave  and  accomplished 
soldier  —  who  attracted  his  '•star''  from  the  firmament  oj  glory  —  by  the  electricity 
of  his  sword! ' ' 

The  effect  was  startling.  A  momentary  silence  was  followed  by  an 
enthusiastic  cheer  of  delight  and  admiration.  So  absorbed  were  the  officers 
in  the  beauty  and  originality  of  the  picture  depicted  in  lightning  colors  by 
the  inspired  soldier-orator,  that,  for  a  moment  they  failed  to  notice  the 
bold  allusion  to  the  ''Political  Generals."  It  was  but  a  moment,  however, 
when  the  full  significance  of  the  phrase  burst  upon  their  mental  vision,,  and 
a  spontaneous  shout  showed  how  fully  the  allusion  was  comprehended  and 
appreciated.  After  that  there  remained  no  doubt  rf  Meagher's  chief  reason 
for  holding  the  "  DEATH  FEAST." 

Not  the  least  startling  incident  of  this  extraordinary  banquet  was  its 
singularly  dramatic  ending.  While  Meagher,  in  tones  of  almost  unearthly 
eloquence  was  paying  his  soul-felt  tribute  to  the  stiil-uuburied  dead,  the 
continuous  pealing  of  the  Confederate  guns,  and  the  hurtling  of  their  shells 
through  the  air  showed  that  they  had,  at  length,  got  the  range  of  the 
Theatre,  and  would  soon  make  it  untenable.  This  conviction  was  forcibly 
impressed  on  the  most  stoical  of  the  veterans  by  a  peculiar  '-object  lesson," 
exhibited  for  their  benefit  by  one  of  the  waiters  engaged  in  bringing  in  the 
dessert.  This  worthy  nonchalantly  inarched  in  bearing  on  a  dish  a  cannon- 
ball,  which  had  just  spent  its  force  in  tumbling  down  a  stone-house  within 
a  few  yards  of  the  Theatre.  Old  soldiers  as  they  were,  they  took  the 
hint,  and,  without  any  formal  ceremonial,  the  assemblage  abruptly  broke 
up  —  each  officer  making  the  best  of  his  way  to  his  post. 

On  that  night  the  Federal  army  evacuated  Fredericksburg,  and  recrossed 
the  1'appahannock  without  opposition. 

Among  the  killed  of  the  Irish  Brigade  at  Fredericksburg  there  was  not 
one  whose  loss  was  more  deplored  by  General  Meagher  than  Major  William 
Horgan,  of  the  88th  Regiment.  He  had  known  him  as  private,  as  Sergeant, 
as  Captain,  as  Major,  and  in  all  those  positions-  found  him  worthy,  willing, 


474  JIEMOHIS    OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRAXCIS  MSAG&SM. 

and  brave  —  a  true  Irishman,  and  a  true  American.  These  sterling  qualities 
won  him,  in  life,  the  General's  unlimited  confidence  and  strong  friendship, 
and  actuated  the  latter  in  the  exertions,  which,  with  the  remnant  of  his 
brother  officers,  he  made  to  recover  their  gallant  comrade's  body,  and  send 
it  home  to  New  York  to  be  buried  with  honors  befitting  a  man  faithful  to 
his  God.  his  Country  and  his  Flag. 

After  considerable  time  spent  in  the  search,  by  the  parties  detailed  un 
der  a  flag  of  truce  to  bury  the  dead  and  succor  the  wounded,  the  Major's 
body  was  found.  General  Meagher  had  it  embalmed,  and  accompanied  it  to 
New  York,  as  soon  as  his  painful  lameness  permitted  him  to  undergo  the 
fatigues  of  the  journey.  He  arrived  home  with  his  charge  at  noon  on 
Christmas  Day — when  the  Major's  remains  were  conveyed  to  the  old  head 
quarters  of  the  Irish  Brigade,  596  Broadway,  which  had  been  tastefully 
arranged  for  their  reception.  There  they  were  "  waked "  for  two  days  and 
three  nights  under  charge  of  a  "guard  of  honor."  and  on  the  following 
Sunday  morning  they  were,  in  compliance  with  the  request  of  the  Commit 
tee  of  the  Common  Council  on  National  Affairs,  transferred  to  the  Governor's 
Boom  in  the  City  Hall,  where  they  lay  in  state  until  2  P.  M.,  when,  attended 
by  the  greatest  funeral  cortege  seen  in  New  York  since  the  commence 
ment  of  the  war,  they  were  conveyed  to  Calvary  Cemetery  and  buried 
with  befitting  military  honors,  accompanied  by  the  prayers  of  his  people. 

General  Meagher  attended  the  funeral,  having  left  his  bed  to  pay  this 
last  tribute  of  respect  and  affection  to  his  friend  and  comrade,  but,  this 
duty  performed,  —  he  had  to  return  to  his  invalid  couch,  and  remain  there 
lor  nearly  a  fortnight  under  a  surgeon's  care. 

When  able  to  resume  his  military  duties  he  returned  to  the  camp  near 
Falmouth,  where  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  lay  inactive  in  winter  quarters. 

PRESENTATION  TO  GENERAL  MEAGHER. 

Previous  to  his  departure  from  New  York  for  the  camp,  General  Meager 
was  afforded  the  opportunity  of  personally  acknowledging  the  pn  sentation  of 
the  new  colors,  and.  of  explaining  the  ground  on  which  they  were  declined 
by  the  officers  of  the  Irish  Brigade. 

It  was  on  the  occasion  that  a  number  of  his  friends  met  at  his  private 
residence.  No.  129  Fifth  Avenue,  to  witness  the  presentation  to  him  of  a 
beautiful  gold  medal  by  the  officers  of  his  gallant  command.  All  the  offi 
cers  of  his  Brigade  then  in  the  city  were  present,  except  those  whose  wouuus 
prevented  their  attendance. 


PRESENTATION  TO   GENERAL  ME  AGUE B.  475 

Among  the  civilians  present  were  James  T.  Brady,  Daniel  Develin,  City 
Chamberlain ;  Judge  O'Connor,  Michael  Phelan,  Hugh  Collender,  John  O'Ma- 
hony,  Mr.  Spaulding,  Daniel  Bryant,  Neil  Bryant,  Christopher  O'Connor, 
Patrick  J.  Meehan  and  John  Mullally. 

Colonel  Robert  Nugent  made  the  presentation  on  behalf  of  his  brother 
officers,  accompanied  by  a  short  and  soldierly  speech  in  which  he  alluded 
to  the  noble  manner  in  which  the  Irish  Brigade  was  led  by  General  Meagher, 
who  was  always  at  his  post  in  the  hour  of  danger,  sharing  with  the 
humblest  of  his  men  the  glorie?,  triumph?,  and  perils  of  the  battle-field. 
On  behalf  of  Mr.  Neil  Bryant,  Colonel  Nugent  also  presented  to  General 
Meagher  a  pair  of  Brigadier's  shoulder  straps,  expressing  the  hope  at  the 
same  time  that  it  would  not  be  long  before  another  star  would  be  adced 
to  the  straps  in  testimony  of  the  recipient's  distinguished  services  to  the 
country. 

General  Meagher  took  the  medal  and  straps  into  his  hands  and  responded 
in  his  usual  heart-stirring  style,  concluding  in  these  words:  — 

u  In  conclusion,  gentlemen,  be  assured  of  this,  that  whilst  I  shall  ever 
in  life  regard  this  medal  as  the  most  precious  treasure  in  my  possession, 
my  fidelity  to  the  Sovereign  People,  .  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  shall  be  as  true  and  lasting  as  the  gold  of  which  it  is  made,  and 
that  my  grateful,  loving,  and  proud  remembrance  of  the  Irish  Brigade,  — 
of  th<  se  heroic  comrades  who  may  survive  with  me,  as  well  as  those  over 
wh  se  graves  the  Eagle  of  the  Kepubiie  has  already  spread  his  wings, — 
shah  be  green  and  bright  as  the  emeralds  with  which  it  sparkles.  More 
dear  to  rne  than  ships,  than  mines,  than  teaming  fields,  than  ancestral  for 
ests  and  mansions  could  ever  be.  1  shall  bequeath  it  to  my  son  as  the 
richest  legacy  he  could  receive  —  with  the  hope  that,  taught  and  inspired  by 
its  memories,  its  inscriptions  and  its  emblem,  he  may  endeavor  to  serve 
Ireland  as  1  have  tried  to  serve  America." 

General  Meagher  then  said  that  he  accepted  the  gift  of  the  civilian 
friends  of  the  Brigade  with  the  same  gratification,  and  should  treasure  them 
also.  With  regard  to  the  wish  that  had  been  expressed  in  presenting  them, 
he  said  that  his  highest  ambition  had  been  more  than  satisfied.  No  promo 
tion  or  advancement  in  rank  could  confer  on  him  a  greater  pleasure  or  a 
higher  historic  dignity  than  that  he  had  already  enjoyed  as  General  of  the 
Irish  Brigade  in  America. 

The  medal  is  a  most  elegant  piece  of  workmanship.  It  is  about  two 
inches  in  diameter,  and  manufactured  of  pure  gold.  On  one  side  is  the 


476  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FEAXCIS  ME  AGREE. 

Irish  Harp,  raised  from  the  surface  of  the  medal  and  resting  upon  the 
American  and  Irish  flags,  surrounded  with  a  wreath  of  laurel  and  sham 
rocks.  Overhead  are  the  words  "  IRISH  BRIGADE,"  beautifully  done  in  em 
eralds.  On  a  tablet  underneath  is  the  word  "  MEAGHER,"  and  underneath 
that;  again  "  SEMPER  FIDELES."  On  the  obverse,  surrounded  by  another 
wreath  of  shamrock  and  laurel,  is  the  following  inscription :  — 

"  PRESENTED    TO 

BRIG.-GENERAL  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER, 

BY    THE    OFFICERS    OF    THE 

IRISH  BRIGADE, 

IN    TESTIMONY    OF    HIS 

GALLANT    AND    PATRIOTIC    SERVICES 

IN    THE    CAUSE    OF    THE 

AMERICAN    UNION, 

AND      HIS      DEVOTION      TO      THE 

BRIGADE." 

Inside  the  wreath  are  names  of  the  battles  in  which  tin  Brigade  had  — 
up  to  that  time  —  participated. 

After  the  presentation,  the  company  adjourned  to  the  lunch-room,  and 
enjoyed  themselves  after  the  usual  manner  of  festive  Irish  gatherings. 

General  Meagher  called  the  attention  of  the  company  to  the  new  colors 
for  the  Irish  Brigade  which  had  been  taken  to  Fredericksburg  for  presen 
tation,  but  which  were  refused  by  the  officers  of  the  brigade  on  the  ground 
that  they  were  not  strong  enough  numerically  to  protect  them,  and  to  carry 
them  with  honor  through  the  scenes  of  carnage.  The  colors,  he  said,  were 
the  gift  of  American  citizens  of  New  York,  and  he  concluded  by  propos 
ing  the  health  of  the  donors,  calling  upon  Mr.  Spauldiug  to  respond  in 
their  behalf. 

Mr.    Spaulding,   in   reply,    said   that,  — 

"  If  the  words  inscribed  on  the  banners  had  been  prepared  in  letters  of 
gold,  and  if  the  staff'  had  been  studded  with  diamonds  and  rubies,  the  gift 
would  not  meet  the  merits  of  the  noble  Irish  Brigade,  which  had  fought  so 
gallantly  for  the  laud  of  their  adoption.  Nothing  that  American  citizens 
could  offer  would  be  too  much  for  the  adopted  citizens  who  perilled  life 
and  everything  for  the  preservation  of  the  republic." 

[General  Meagher's  "Letter  of  Acknowledgment  to  the  Donors  of  the 
New  Colors "  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix.] 


PRESENTATION   TO   GEXEliAL   ME  AGREE.  477 

That  the  military  authorities  at  Washington  did  not  concur  with  the 
American  patriots  of  New  York  in  their  appreciation  of  the  services  ren 
dered  the  country  by  the  Irish  Brigade;  or  in  the  claim  of  the  survivors 
of  that  gallant  band  to  common  justice  (not  to  speak  ot  gratitude)  at  their 
hands,  was  plainly  evidenced  by  the  manner  in  which  they  discriminated 
agaiust  the  "adopted  citizens''  in  the  matter  of  granting  permission  to  go 
home  to  recruit  during  the  four  months  that  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
was  lying  inactive  in  winter  quarters;  while  favored  New  England  troops  — 
some  regiments  of  which  numbered  more  men  than  the  whole  Irish  Brigade 
—  were  relieved  from  duty  and  sent  to  their  respective  homes  "to  recruit," 
without  demur. 

When  it  is  taken  into  consideration  that,  during  all  this  period,  the  five 
hundred  and  twenty  men  —  which  the  three  New  York  regiments  of  the 
Brigade  mustered  —  were  assigned  the  same  amount  of  harrassiug  duty  in 
front  of  the  army  as  would  have  fallen  to  their  lot,  had  they  their  full 
compliment  of  a  thousand  men  each  —  the  glaring  injustice  of  their  treat 
ment  will  be  made  manifest  to  every  impartial  mind. 

Even  before  the  slaughter  at  Fredericksburg  —  and  when  it  was  gener 
ally  thought  throughout  the  army  that  active  operations  were  suspended  for 
the  winter  —  the  justice  of  General  Meagher's  claim  to  have  his  depleted 
regiments  relieved  from  camp  duty  for  a  time,  and  sent  into  quarters  where 
they  might  recruit  their  shattered  ranks,  was  admitted  by  President  Lin 
coln,  Secretary  Stanton,  and  General  Halleck.  Yet  now,  after  their  fearful 
losses,  no  consideration  was  given  to  their  just  claims. 

Under  these  circumstances,  General  Meagher  again  addressed  the  Secre 
tary  of  War  on  behalf  of  his  Brigade,  in  a  memorial  which  clearly  set 
forth  the  reasons  for  his  request,  and  the  justice  of  his  claim.*  For  months 
this  memorial  did  not  even  receive  the  courtesy  of  an  acknowledgment. 
Whether  Meagher's  allusion  to  "  Political  Generals "  at  the  Fredericksburg 
banquet  —  was  made  a  pretext  for  this  spleuetic  exhibition  of  official  spite, 
may  be  a  matter  for  conjecture.  His  full  speech  on  that  occasion  has  never 
been  published,  but  if  it  gave  expression  to  the  out-spoken  sentiments,  not 
only  of  his  own  command,  but  of  the  army  and  the  people  of  the  loyal 
States,  it  might  well  have  given  mortal  ottence  to  the  parties  who  felt  the 
applicability  of  its  bitter  truths  to  themselves. f 


*  For  full  text  of  this  "memorial"  see  Appendix. 

+  An  ollicer   of  the  Irish  Brigade,  who  was  invalided  In  New  York  when  the  battle  of 


478  MEM02BS  OF  GEX.  THOMAS  F£AXCIS  MEJ.GMM&. 

At  all  events,  he  was  the  first  to  voice  the  public  indignation  which 
speedily  compelled  the  military  authorities  at  "Washington  to  replace  the 
General  of  their  selection  by  "  Fighting  Joe  Hooker,''  and  therefore,  he  and 
his  Brigade  were  treated  with  contumely  when  they  sought  for  justice  and 
fairplay. 

CELEBRATION  OF  ST.  PATRICK'S  DAY  BY  THE  IRISH  BRIGADE. 

To  vary  the  long-continued  monotony  of  camp-life  in  winter-quarters,  to 
stimulate  the  national  spirit  of  his  brigade,  and  that  of  their  Celtic  broth 
ers  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  as  well  as  to  show  his  compatriots  of 
all  nationalities,  in  that  army  that,  under  no  circumstances,  however  depress 
ing,  can  the  Irishman's  natural  elasticity  and  light-hearteduess  be  seriously 
aflected,  General  Meagher,  about  a  week  before  St.  Patrick's  Day.  resolved 
that,  although  in  an  enemy's  land,  the  National  Festival  should  be  betit- 
tingly  celebrated. 

All  through  the  evening  of  the  16th  of  March,  the  drum  °orps  through 
out  the  entire  line  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  kept  rattling  away  at  one 
spirit-?tirrii  g  tune,  and  ktpt  it  continuously  up  until  12  o'clock  ushered  in 
"St.  Patrick's  Day!"  And  when  day  broke  forth,  and  The  rising  sun  gave 
promise  of  a  beautiful  morning,  crowds  of  soldiers  of  every  rank  and  con 
dition  might  be  seen  thronging  from  every  part  of  the  army  and  converg 
ing  to  one  common  centre  — "  GEKEKAL  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGIIEK'S  Irish 
Brigade." 

The  preparations  for  the  proper  celebration  of  the  day  were  character 
istic  of  the  men  who  honored  the  festival,  eudeaied  to  their  hearts  by  so 
many  tender  reminiscences  of  their  boyhood's  home  beyond  the  sea. 

A  spacious  chapel  had  been  erected  of  canvas,  and  appropriately  orna 
mented  with  evergreen  wreath?,  festoons  and  bouquets.  A  new  and  elegant 
vestment  had  been  purchased  by  the  men  for  their  beloved  Chaplain,  Kev. 
Father  Cor  by;  and  here,  at  S  o'clock  A.  M.,  the  exercises  of  the  day  com- 


Fredericksburg   took    place  — thus    wrote  of    those  who  were  responsible  for  the  results  of 
that  calamitous  day:  — 

"May  God  visit  as  He  will,  with  a  just  judgment,  the  man  or  men  who  caused  so 
much  good,  true,  loyal  blood  to  be  shed  in  vain;  so  many  braye  children  of  the  people 
to  be  led  up  to  slaughter,  to  d<  ttruction,  to  the  coldest  blooded  murder.  For  of  a  surety 
it  was  all  this  —  it  was  destruction,  slaughter,  murder.  i>id  not  all  that  is  scientific, 
skilled,  trained  in  the  army,  renounce  this  horrible  plan,  and  demonstrate  its  failure?" 


ST.    PATRICK'S  DAY  O-V    THE  POTOMAC  479 

rue  need  with  the  celebration  of  High  Mass,  accompanied  by  martial  music. 
General  Meagher  and  his  Brigade,  with  hundreds  of  invited  guests,  were 
present. 

At  the  close  of  the  Mass  the  Rev.  Father  O'Hagan,  Chaplain  of  the 
"Excelsior  Brigade,*'  preached  an  eloquent  and  patriotic  sermon. 

The  out-door  programme  included  races  —  horse,  foot,  mule.  &c.  The 
sports  were  held  in  a  large  open  field  near  General  Hancock's  head-quarters, 
011  which  three  spacious  stands  had  been  erected,  for  the  accommodation, 
respectively,  of  the  Judges  of  the  course  —  the  Generals,  and  other  distin 
guished  officers,  and  the  ladies.  Among  the  latter  was  the  Princess  Salm- 
Salm  and  two  or  three  others  in  riding  habits,  who  won  the  admiration  of 
the  immense  concourse  by  their  personal  beauty  and  feats  of  skill  and 
daring  in  the  side-saddle. 

The  scene  on  the  grounds  just  before  the  commencement  of  the  sports 
is  graphically  described  by  an  appreciative  eye-witness,  as  follows :  — 

"  Coming  upon  the  ground  we  beheld  a  vast  swaying  sea  of  uniforms  of 
every  style  and  grade,  mounted  and  a-foot,  mixed  pell-mell  in  one  huge 
mass.  Here  were  Zouaves  in  the  showy  dress  of  their  different  regiments, 
with  their  red  breeches,  fancy  jackets,  and  long-tasseled,  skull  caps;  Volti- 
gcurs,  Ei.fants  Pardus,  German  riflemen,  cavalry,  infantry  and  artillery;  the 
French,  German,  American  aud  Irish  languages  flying  about  indiscriminately, 
with  here  and  there  a  General  ollicer  and  his  showy  yellow-mounted  staff', 
trying  to  force  their  way  througn  the  throng  to  the  stand.  Immense  amounts 
of  goid-lace,  and  thousands  of  shoulder-straps  of  every  grade  —  generals,  col 
onels,  majors,  captains  and  lieutenants,  glistened  in  the  sun. 

"First  of  all,  Major-G<  ueral  Hooker  rode  up,  amid  vociferous  cheers,  on 
the  weil-known  white  horse,  and  maintained  his  place  on  the  stand  during 
the  day.  Around  him  were  Msijor-Geuerais  Couch.  Hancock,  Howard,  French, 
Silkies,  Berry,  &c.,  with  a  large  number  of  Brigadier-Generals.  Brigadier- 
Genorai  Caldwell,  commanding  a  brigade  in  Hancock's  Division,  atcisted 
General  Meagher,  as  Master  of  Ceremonies. 

"Most  prominent  of  all  was  General  Meagher,  who.  without  doubt,  was 
innsttr  of  ceremonies.  A  tall  white  hat,  green  cravat,  and  a  rosette  of  biue 
ribbon  on  a  brown  coat,  white  gloves,  white  silk-veivet  half-breeches  completed 
his  uniform ;  he  rode  a  sprightly  bay  horse,  and  carried  in  his  hand  a  long- 
lashed  whip.  His  form  was  seen  tveiy  where  in  incredible  short  periods  of 
time,  and  above  all  noise  and  confusion,  rang  the  voice  of  the  gallant  Irish 
commander. 


480  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHER. 

"A  glass  of  wine  was  passed  to  General  Hooker,  ami  he  was  called 
upon  to  drink  to  a  toast.  Raising  his  glass  he  exclaimed  — '  THE  IRISH 
BRIGADE — God  bless  them!"1  He  then  proposed  and  led  —  '  Three  cheers  for 
the  Irish  Brigade,'  and  again  unbounded  cheers  resounded  over  the  field  for 
the  Commander-iu-Chief." 

After  the  forenoon  races  were  over.  General  Meagher  invited  his  guests 
to  accompany  him  to  Brigade-Headquarter?,  where  sandwiches  and  '-punch" 
had  been  provided  in  plenty  —  the  "punchbowl"  being  half  a  whiskey- 
barrel  festooned  with  sprigs  of  box.  Here,  ''Dr.  Larry  Reynolds"  —  the 
jovial  Poet-Laureate  of  the  biigade — delivered  a  spirited  "Poetical  Address 
of  Welcome,"  composed  for  the  occasion,  in  which  he  handled  the  authors 
of  the  Fredericksburg  disaster  without  gloves  —  and  eulogized  "Little  Mack" 
and  "Fighting  Joe"  most  fervently. 

In  the  afternoon  the  sports  of  the  field  were  resumed,  and  just  as  the 
last  foot-race  wts  over,  heavy  firing  was  heard  to  the  righr,  and  rumors 
began  circulating  of  a  rebel  attack.  General  Meagher  remarked  that  ''this 
would  be  only  in  keepirg  with  precedents,  as  a  fight  seemed  to  be  the 
inevitable  winding  up  of  a  'big  day'  in  the  Irish  Brigade." 

The  firing  continuing,  officers  and  men  were  immediately  ordered  to 
quarters,  and  in  ten  minutes  the  race-course  was  deserted.  But  every  one, 
from  GENERAL  HOOKER  down,  heartily  enjoyed  the  festivities,  and  as  they 
wended  their  way  to  their  respective  quarters  their  chief  regiet  was — 
that  "St.  Patrick's  Day"  should  come  but  once  a  year. 

GENERAL  MEAGHER  ON  THE  IRISH  FAMINE  OF  1863. 

In  the  winter  of  1862,  and  the  spring  of  1SC3,  one  of  the  periodical 
landlord-engendered,  government-fostered  famines  occurred  in  Ireland.  With 
their  usual  alacrity,  the  noble  American  people  came  to  the  rescue  of  the 
hapless  victims.  On  the  Tlth  of  April  a  meeting  was  convened  in  the 
Academy  of  Music,  New  York,  to  raise  funds  for  the  famine-threatened 
Irish  people.  It  was  presided  over  by  the  Major  of  the  city  and  among 
the  prominent  citizens  present,  who  adoressed  the  assemblage,  were  the 
venerable  Archbishop  Hughes,  General  George  B.  McC'iellan.  Richard 
O'Gorman,  James  T.  Brady,  Horace  Greely  and  General  T.  F.  Meayher. 

I  quote  from  General  Meagher's  address  that  portion  thereof  in  which 
he  enunciated  the  relationship  of  the  Irish-born  soldiers  of  the  Republic  to 
the  land  of  their  birth;  and  also  bore  testimony  to  the  sympathy  entertained 
for  that  land  by  the  most  popular  chief  of  the  American  army : — 


MEAGHEE    ON   THE    HUSH  FAlil.\E    OF  IS 63.  481 

'•  Fellow-countrymen  of  Ireland,  citizens  of  New  York,  Mr.  Mayor,  and 
gentlemen :— Although  visiting  this  city  in  no  public  capacity  whatever,  and 
still  suffering  from  a  sprain  I  lately  received,  and  which  compelled  me  to 
leave  camp  lor  a  few  days,  I  could  not  resist  the  appeal  addressed  to  this 
heart  by  the  poor  and  famishing  of  my  native  land, —  an  appeal  which, 
high  above  the  tumult  of  the  intervening  ocean,  and  the  thunders  that  now 
shake  this  great  commonwealth,  has  come  to  us  from  that  old  laud  of 
invincible  faith,  prolonged  martyrdom  and  inextinguishable  hope.  I  answer 
to  this  appeal.  I  am  here  tonight,  and  happy,  and  proud  I  am  to  be 
with  you  on  such  an  occasion  and  in  such  a  cause.  Happy  do  I  feel  since 
another  opportunity,  it  may  be  the  last,  has  besn  offered  me  to  renew  the 
assurances  of  my  devotion  to  the  beautiful  and  illustrious,  though  it  be 
the  bereft  and  downcast  island  of  my  birth  —  the  disarmed  Poland  of  the 
seas.  Happy  do  I  feel,  that,  saved  from  many  dangers  of  late  through 
the  boui.tiful  goodness  of  Heaven,  it  is  my  good  fortune  to  raise  my  voice 
once  more  for  the  lorlorn  children  of  that  island  in  uniion  with  the 
eloquent,  the  pious  and  the  powerful  utterances  which  this  night  awake  the 
echoes  of  this  superb  edifice  to  swell  trie  divine  invocations  of  charity. 

"Proud  I  am  that,  bowed  down  though  she  be,  steeped  in  gall  to  the 
lips,  gnawed  with  mistry  to  the  bone,  with  her  character  villitied  every 
where  by  the  flippant  puppies  and  arrogant  blockheads  of  an  empire  whose 
rule  she  has  persistently  spumed,  and  whose  persecution  she  has  unconquer 
ably  defied  —  proud  do  I  feel  that,  de-pite  of  all  her  sorrows  and  humilia 
tions,  despite  of  all  the  calamities,  ail  the  slanders,  all  the  opprobrium 
with  which  she  has  been  visited,  the  sympathies  of  the  good  and  great  of 
this  Republic  are  with  her.  and  that  in  the  chivalrous  manifestation  of 
these  sympathies,  wiih  the  same  heart  that  in  the  darkest  hour  was  the 
life  and  illumination  of  a  vast  army,  the  best  beloved  and  foremost  of  its 
generals  leads  the  way.  Prompt  as  he  has  been  in  coming  to-day  to  the 
rescue  of  Ireland  with  his  sword  in  the  sheath.  I  well  know  that  no  one  would 
be  readier  than  the  young  and  gifted  organizer  of  the  Army  of  the  Poto 
mac,  should  events  legitimately  give  him  the  chance,  to  render  Ireland, 
after  another  lashion,  a  more  lasting  and  nobler  relief. 

"Mr.  Mayor,  and  gentlemen,  in  speaking  as  I  have  done,  I  feel  fully 
justified  in  saying  that  I  nave  spoken  the  sentiments  of  all  that  re 
mains  of  the  Irish  Brigade,  and  it  is  with  perfect  truthfulness  I  beg 
you  to  believe,  that,  had  the  paymaster  been  around  lately,  I  should 
have  been  made  the  bearer  of  a  substantial  proof  of  the  compa 
ssionate  and  generous  love  with  which  the  Irish  soldier,  fighting  the 

31 


482  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRAXCIS  MEAGHER. 

battles  of  the  United  States,  never  ceases  to  think  of  the  land  that  bore 
him,  and  the  claims  which  her  misfortunes,  as  well  as  her  grandest  aspira 
tions,  have  sacredly  and  sternly  imposed  upon  him.  Let  the  poor,  the  ragged, 
the  famishing  of  Ireland,  take  the  assurance  to  their  wearied  hearts,  that 
never  for  a  day,  never  at  any  moment,  never  in  any  scene,  whether  stormy 
or  becalmed,  has  the  Irish  soldier  —  righteously  and  magnanimously  assert 
ing  the  authority  of  the  United  Srates,  and  the  honor,  the  inviolability,  the 
magnificent  symbolism  of  the  national  flag  —  never  once  has  the  Irish  sol 
dier  lost  sight  of  the  mountains  on  which  his  eyes  first  opened,  never  once 
failed  to  hear  the  musical  rushing  of  the  waters  that  lulled  him  in  his 
cradle,  never  once  was  so  overclouded  that  his  heart  did  not  reflect  in  i;s 
depths  that  lone  star  which  shines  with  inextinguishable  fire  in  the  daike&t 
segment  of  the  European  sky." 

General  Meagher  returned  to  the  camp  at  Falmoutb,  Va.,  on  the  26th  of 
April,  and  was  notified  by  General  Hancock,  on  the  following  morning  to 
report  to  him  personally  for  orders,  preparatory  to  joining  his  command  at 
one  of  the  fords  of  the  Eappahannock — where  the  headquarters  of  the  Irish 
Brigade  was  established. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  29th,  a  pencilled  notification,  written  on  a  small 
scrap  of  paper,  was  received  by  General  Meag-her.  The  following  is  a  copj 
thereof  —  taken  directly  from  the  original :  — 

"Apr.   29,   '63,   3.30  P.   M. 
"  General  — 

"I  have  taken  the  116th  Pa.  and  28th  with  me.  Mr.  Whiteford  knows 
the  road.  As  soon  as  it  is  well  dark  you  will  join  me  at  U.  S.  Ford  witn 
rour  whole  command — save  the  company  at  Banks'  Ford  and  the  picket 
at  England's. 

"You  need  not  wait  for  any  further  orders  after  dark.  Be  careful  of 
this  paper.  By  order  of  Maj.-Gen.  Hancock. 

"JOHN  HANCOCK, 

"Maj.   and  A.   A.   G." 

By  the  time  General  Meagher  proceeded  to  carry  out  these  instructions^ 
the  whole  immense  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  in  motion  to  pass  the  Eap 
pahannock.  General  Hooker's  passage  of  that  river  in  the  face  of  Lee's  vigi- 
leiit  army,  was  a  most  masterly  military  movement.  Making  a  powerful  de 
monstration  on  the  right  of  the  enemy  —  (below  Fredericksburg)  —  he  called 
their  attention  in  that  direction,  and  then  made  a  sudden  cavalry  dash  at 
the  fords  above  the  town,  gaining  possession  of  Kelly's  Ford  above  the  con- 


AT  CHANCELLORS  VILE.  483 

fluence  of  the  Rapidan,  and  throwing  the  Eleventh  and  Twelfth  Corps  across 
at  that  point.  These  troops  moved  rapidly  to  Ely's  and  the  Germania  Fords 
across  the  Rapidan,  and  by  noon  on  Friday,  May  1st,  there  were  in  posi 
tion  at  and  about  Chancellorsville,  the  whole  of  the  Second,  Third,  Fifth, 
Eleventh  and  Twelfth  Corps,  prepared  to  confront  the  Confederates,  who, 
about  two  o'clock  that  afternoon  were  seen  advancing  in  strong  force  from 
the  east. 

To  the  series  of  desperate  engagements  which  occurred  on  that  and  the 
four  succeeding  days  —  and  which  are  known  in  history  as  the  kl  Battle  of 
Chancellorsville,"  I  do  not  purport  to  refer  —  save  to  the  part  which  General 
Meagher  and  his  command  had  therein. 

On  the  march  to  the  United  States  Ford  the  Irish  Brigade  constituted 
the  extreme  left  of  the  Second  Army  Corps.  They  crossed  the  river  by 
moonlight  on  the  night  of  April  30*h,  and  picketed  for  the  night  at  its 
southern  side;  commanding  a  ford  near  the  main  road  from  Fredericksburg 
to  Richmond.  On  the  next  day  the  Brigade  were  ordered  to  proceed  to  a 
place  called  Scott's  Mills  —  a  lord  within  a  few  miles  of  Chancellorsville, 
where  they  arrived  at  10  o'clock  that  night.  As  this  was  an  important  po 
sition,  and  exposed  by  by-road  to  the  left  wing  of  the  enemy's  lines.  Gen 
eral  Meagher  threw  out  pickets,  loop-holed  the  mill  aud  out-buildings  and 
garrisoned  them  effectively.  In  front  of  his  position  he  had  a  battery  of 
six  guns. 

The  brigade  remained  all  that  iiijjht  and  the  next  day,  (Saturday,  May 
2d.)  defending  the  ford.  At  about  8  o'clock  on  Saturday  morning,  the  ter 
rific  tiring  in  their  front,  cowards  Chancellorsville,  indicated  the  commence 
ment  of  a  desperate  engagement,  which  continued  without  intermission  until 
at  3  P.  M.  the  Confederate  fire,  both  of  cannon  and  musketry,  became  so 
destructive,  that  the  Eleventh  Army  Corps  (mostly  composed  of  German 
troops.)  broke  before  it,  and  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  their  commander,  — 
the  gallant  General  Howard,  —  to  rally  them  —  fled  panic-stricken  in  the  direc 
tion  of  Gordonsville,  abandoning  their  cannon,  ammunition  and  wagons. 
To  intercept  the  fugitives,  as  they  came  rushing  along  towards  his  position, 
General  Meagher  threw  a  line  across  the  road  and  into  the  wood  at  Scott's 
Mills,  and  the  "Brigade  boys"  —  bringing  their  bayonets  to  a  charge  —  the 
runaways,  finding  their  retreat  cut  off  by  men  more  dreaded  as  antagonists 
than  even  Stonewall  Jackson's  pursuing  columns,  had,  perforce,  to  come  to 
a  halt  —  face  about — and  rejoin  the  army  —  whose  safety  their  shameful 
cowardice  had  seriously  imperilled. 


484  &E&02KS  Of  G1LY.   TtiOMAS  FXAXCIS   UEAGI1EE. 

Thus  did  the  men  of  the  Irish  Brigade  enact  the  scene  of  Gaine's  Hill 
over  again;  and  by  their  opportune  presence  at  this  critical  moment,  and 
their  indomitable  resolution  —  prevent  a  temporary  panic  from  degenerating 
into  an  utter  and  irremediable  rout. 

About  8  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning,  May  3d,  General  Meagher  received 
orders  to  advance  the  brigade  to  the  front,  to  support  the  Fifth  Maine 
Battery.  This  battery  was  placed  at  the  opening  of  the  wood  commanding 
the  plain  towards  Chnncelloravllle.  It  was  well  worked,  and  did  good  exe 
cution;  for  not  until  all  the  men  and  horses  were  killed  or  wounded  did  it 
cease  firing 

As  the  Brigade,  with  its  General  at  its  head,  marched  through  the 
woods  under  a  shower  of  shot,  shell,  and  broken  branches,  they  were 
greeted  with  loud  and  repeated  cheers  from  the  columns  that  lined  their 
way. 

The  General  had  several  narrow  escapes  from  being  killed  while  on  this 
march  through  the  woods;  on  one  occasion  a  shell  burst  behind  him,  on 
ground  he  had  just  passed  over,  killing  one  of  his  men  and  wounding  three. 
As  the  Brigade  were  for  nearly  two  hours  in  the  woods,  it  was  surpris 
ing  that  its  casualties  were  not  much  greater  than  they  actually  were. 
When  they  arrived  in  sight  of  the  battery  they  were  sent  to  relieve,  they 
found  it  in  charge  of  but  Corpoial  H.  Lebroke  and  one  private,  who,  find 
ing  themselves  unable  to  work  the  guns,  had  just  blown  up  the  caissons. 
At  this  moment  the  brigade  came  up,  formed  line,  and  dashed  into  the 
open  plain  —  pouring  one  destructive  volley  on  the  enemy,  —  (who  were  ad 
vancing  to  seize  the  guns)  —  and  driving  them  back  in  confusion.  Some  of 
the  men  fell,  but  under  the  orders  of  General  Meagher,  a  detachment  of 
the  HGth  Pennsylvania  JJegiment,  commanded  by  Major  Mulholland,  seized 
the  ropes  and  dragged  oft'  the  guns  into  the  woods  —  thus  rendering  eftec- 
tive  service  to  the  Union  cause,  for,  had  the  Confederates  seized  the  battery 
and  turned  it  upon  the  Federal  army,  — several  regiments  of  which,  on  the 
right  and  left,  were  giving  way  —  a  regular  panic  might  have  ensued. 

As  the  Brigade  reached  the  plain  with  the  rescued  guns,  General  Han 
cock  rode  up  to  General  Meagher,  and,  very  emphatically,  called  out  — 
"  General  Meagher !  you  command  the  retreat." 

The  Brigade  was  next  stationed  in  a  wood  to  the  left  of  what  was 
known  as  the  u  "White-House,"  where  they  were  engaged  all  that  Sunday- 
night  and  Monday-morning  in  throwing  up  a  strong  line  of  breast-works 
on  the  right  and  left,  which,  being  strongly  lined  with  troops,  the  position 
was  deemed  almost  impregnable. 


PARTING   ADDRESS.  485 


The  enemy's  batteries  continued  to  shell  the  woods  all  through  Monday, 
killing  and  wounding  many  of  the  Union  soldiers.  One  of  those  shells 
killed  Captain  John  C.  Lynch  of  the  63d  Regiment  —  the  only  officer  of  the 
Irish  Brigade  slain  at  Chancellorsville.  Another  of  those  destructive  missiles 
struck  a  tree  in  close  proximity  to  General  Meagher. 

The  total  casualties  of  the  brigade  in  killed  and  wounded  at  the  battle 
of  Chancellorsville  amounted  to  fifty,  of  whom  one  officer  was  killed  and 
five  wounded. 

On  Wednesday,  May  Gth.  the  Union  Army  re-crossed  the  Eappahannock, 
and  the  several  commands  returned  to  their  old  camps. 

The  battle  of  Chancellorsville  was  the  last  engagement  in  which  Gen 
eral  Meagher  participated  with  his  glorious  Irish  Brigade.  For,  no  reply 
having  up  to  that  time  been  vouchsafed  to  his  memorial  to  the  Secretary 
of  War,  he  could  not  in  self-respct  —  or  in  justice  to  his  command  submit 
any  longer  to  the  treatment  to  which  both  were  subjected  by  the  official 
dictators  of  the  War  Department  —  Stanton  and  Halleck. 

Accordingly,  on  his  ictuni  to  camp,  he  promptly  wrote  his  letter  of 
resignation,  as  Commander  of  the  Irish  Brigade — which  was  as  promptly 
accepted.  On  the  evening  of  the  day  on  which  he  received  the  curt  official 
missive  announcing  the  acceptance  of  his  resignation,  General  Meagher  assem 
bled  his  little  command  for  the  purpose  of  taking  leave  of  them,  and  bid 
ding  them,  each  and  all,  an  affectionate  good-bye.  The  occasion  was  one 
never  to  be  foi  gotten  by  the  participants  in  or  witnesses  of  the  proceedings. 
The  Brigade  was  formtd  into  a  hollow  square  —  the  General  and  his  staff 
in  the  centre  —  with  his  esteemed  frieud,  the  gallant  Brigadier-General  Cald- 
welJ,  and  other  visitors. 

The  band  of  the  Fourteenth  Connecticut  was  also  present,  and  furnished 
most  appropriate  music  for  the  occasion. 

After  the  troops  had  been  formed,  and  the  band  had  performed  an 
appropriate  pie^e  of  Euusic.  the  General  acdits-stu  his  command  as  follows:  — 

GENERAL   MEAGIlEirS  PARTING  ADDRESS. 
44  To  MY  OTFICEKS  ANU  fcoLL>iEi:s.  MY  COUNTRYMEN  AND  COMRADES  IN  ARMS 

11  A  pcsi  ive  conviction  cf  what  I  owe  to  your  reputation,  to  the  honoi 
of  our  race,  and  to  my  o\\u  conscience,  compeikd  me  a  few  days  ago  to 
tender  the  President  of  the  United  States  my  resignation  of  this  command. 


486  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

1  shall  not  recapitulate  the  reasons  which  induced  me  and  justified  me  to 
do  so.  It  would  be  superfluous.  There  is  not  a  man  in  this  command  who 
is  not  fully  aware  of  the  reasons  which  compelled  me  to  resign,  and  there 
is  not  a  man  who  does  not  thoroughly  appreciate  and  aprove  it. 

"  Suffice  it  to  say  that,  the  Irish  Brigade  no  longer  existing,  I  felt  that 
it  would  be  perpetuating  a  great  deception  were  I  to  retain  the  authority 
and  rank  of  brigadier-general  nominally  commanding  the  same.  I  therefore 
conscientiously,  though  most  reluctantly,  resigned  my  command.  That  resig 
nation  has  been  accepted,  and  as  your  general  I  now  bid  you  an  affectionate 
farewell. 

u  I  cannot  do  so,  however,  without  leaving  on  record  the  assurance  of 
the  happiness,  the  gratiiude,  the  pride  with  which  I  revert  to  the  first  days 
of  the  Irish  Brigade,  when  it  struggled  in  its  infancy,  and  was  sustained 
alone  by  its  native  strength  and  instincts,  and  retrace  from  the  field,  where 
it  first  displayed  its  brilliant  gallantry,  all  the  efforts,  all  the  hardships, 
all  the  privations,  all  the  sacrifices  which  have  made  its  history  —  brief 
though  it  be  —  sacred  and  inestimable.  Sharing  with  the  humblest  soldier 
freely  and  heartily  all  the  hardships  and  dangers  of  the  battle-field  —  never 
having  ordered  an  advance  that  I  did  not  take  the  lead  myself  —  I  thank 
God  that  I  have  been  spared  to  do  justice  to  those  whose  heroism  deserves 
from  me  a  grateful  commemoration,  and  that  I  have  been  preserved  to  bring 
comfort  to  those  who  have  lost  fathers,  husbands  and  brothers,  in  the  sol 
diers  who  have  fallen  for  a  noble  government  under  the  green  flag. 

"My  life  has  bten  a  varied  one,  and  I  have  passed  through  many  dis 
tracting  scenes.  But  never  has  the  river  that  flowed  beside  my  cradle, 
never  have  the  mountains  that  overlooked  the  paths  of  my  childhood,  never 
have  the  old  walls  that  claimed  the  curiosity  and  research  of  maturer  days, 
been  effaced  from  my  memory.  As  at  first  —  as  in  nature  —  the  beautiful 
and  glorious  picture  is  indellible.  Not  less  vivid,  not  less  ineffaceable,  will 
be  the  recollection  of  my  companionship  with  the  Irish  Brigade  in  the 
service  of  the  United  States.  The  graves  of  many  hundreds  of  brave  and 
devoted  soldiers,  who  went  to  death  with  all  the  radiance  and  enthusiasm 
of  the  noblest  chivalry,  are  so  many  guarantees  and  pledges  that,  so  long 
as  there  remains  one  officer  or  one  soldier  of  the  Irish  Brigade,  so  long 
shall  there  be  found  for  him,  for  his  family  and  little  ones,  if  any  there 
be,  a  devoted  friend  in 

"  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER." 

At  the   conclusion  of  the   address  nine  enthusiastic  cheers   were  given  for 


BOXOItS   TO   GENERAL  MEAGHER  IN  NEW  YORK.  4S7 

General  Meagher,  after  which  the  commissioned  officers  came  forward  and 
shook  hands  with  him,  bidding  him  an  affectionate  and  tearful  farewell. 
The  General  then  passed  along  the  lines,  and  shook  hands  with  every  sol 
dier,  saying  a  "good-bye"  and  a  "  God  bless  you"  to  each  one  separately. 
Both  officers  and  men  were  affected  to  tears,  and  the  separation  was  a  truly 
painful  one  to  all  concerned. 

Colonel  Patrick  Kelly,  of  the  Eighty-eighth  Regiment,  then  assumed 
command  of  the  Brigade,  as  the  senior  officer,  and  dismissed  the  column. 
At  the,  conclusion  of  the  public  leave-raking,  the  officers  met  at  the  Gen 
eral's  old  head-quarters,  where  refreshments  were  served,  and  a  couple  of 
hours  spent  in  rehearsing  the  incidents  that  had  transpired  in  the  history 
of  the  Irish  Brigade. 

General  Meagher  returned  to  New  York  on  the  29th  of  May.  Previous 
to  his  departure  Irom  the  camp  he  was  presented  with  "farewell  addresses" 
from  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Brigade.  These  addresses  are  given  at 
length  in  the  "Appendix." 


CHAPTER    LXVII. 


HONORS  TO   GENERAL   MEAGHER   IN  NEW  YORK, 

PRESENTED   WITH    THE    "KEARNY    CROSS."  —  FORMALLY    ENROLLED    IN   THE 
FENIAN  BROTHERHOOD.  —  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN'S  DISPATCH.  — GEN 
ERAL  FRENCH'S  LETTER.  —  GENERAL  MEAGHER 
IN  TENNESSEE. 

BEFORE  General  Mengher's  return  to  New  York,  the  Municipal  Govern 
ment  of  that  city  passed  resolutions  "directing  the  Committee  on  National 
Affairs  of  the  Common  Council  to  proffer  him  the  hospitalities  of  the  city, 
as  a  token  of  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  people  of  the 
metropolis — speaking  through  their  representatives,  and  as  an  evidence  of  their 
recognition  of  the  invaluable  services  rendered  by  him  and  the  heroic  men 
of  the  Irish  Brigade  in  defence  of  the  integrity  of  the  Union." 


488  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER 

In  accordance  with  those  resolutions,  the  Committee  on  National  Affair?, 
headed  by  Mayor  Opdyke  and  Alderman  Farley,  waited  on  General  Meagher, 
by  appointment,  at  the  Astor  House,  on  June  16th,  when  the  Mayor  presented 
the  General  with  an  official  copy  of  the  resolutions,  and,  in  a  brief  but 
effective  speech,  formally  tendered  him  the  hospitalities  of  the  city. 

General  Meagher,  in  response,  read  an  address  in  which  he  recited  the 
reasons  which  compelled  him  to  resign  his  command  of  the  Irish  Brigade, 
stated  that  in  taking  leave  of  the  army  under  such  urgent  circumstances, 
he  did  not  absolve  himself  from  his  obligations  to  the  Kepubiic,  nor  did 
his  sworn  devotion  to  its  fortunes  undergo  the  slightest  change.  He  said 
that  when  the  war  was  over,  and  the  Constitution  restored  throughout  the 
Union,  it  would  delight  him  to  participate,  with  the  survivors  of  the  Irish 
Brigade,  in  the  honors  and  hospitalities  which,  in  their  absence,  he  then 
gratefully  declined. 

PRESENTATION  OF  THE  KEARNY  CROSS. 

Alderman  Farley  then,  addressing  General  Meagher.  said  that  in  his  capa 
city  (.f  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  National  Affairs,  he  had  been  requested 
by  General  D.  B.  Biiney  to  present  him  with  the  ••  Kearny  Cross,"  in 
token  of  his  appreciation  by  that  noble  commander. 

General  Me.igher  accepted  the  Cross  in  a  feeling  speech  —  in  which  he 
said  that  he  had  the  privilege  of  being  on  terms  of  honored  intimacy  with 
that  gallant  soldier,  General  Kearny,  who  took  a  friendly  and  cordial  inter 
est  in  the  welfare  and  reputation  of  the  Irish  Brigade;  that  it  had  been 
decided  by  Major-General  Birney,  now  commanding  Kearny's  old  division, 
and  the  other  officers  holding  commissions  in  it,  that,  as  the  friend  and 
comrade  of  General  Kearny,  he  should  be  invited  to  wear  this  military 
decoration,  known  throughout  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  as  the  '•  Kearny 
Cross,"  and  that  he  should  wear  it  proudly  and  most  gratefully. 

The  Cross  thus  presented  was  of  solid  silver  with  the  buckles  and  clasp 
of  pure  gold,  with  a  heavy  scarlet  ribbon.  It  was  inscribed  on  the  obverse:  — 

"To  GENET?  A  i_   MEAOHEII  OF  THE  IRISH  BRIGADE. 
KEARNY'S  FRIEND  AND  COMRADE  OF  THE  OLD  ]>IVISION." 

And   on   the  reverse :  — 

"BlRNEY'S    DIVISION." 

GENERAL   MEAGHER  ENROLLED  IN  THE  FENIAN  BROTHERHOOD. 
Though,   immediately   before  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war,  Meagher  had 


ENROLED  IN  THE  FEE XI AN  BROTHERHOOD.  48» 

determined  to  become  actively  affiliated  with  the  Feuian  Brotherhood  organ 
ization,  ret,  not  until  his  resignation  from  the  military  service  of  the  United 
States  did  he  formally  enrol  himself  in  the  ranks  of  the  Irish  revolutionary 
society.  Soon  after  his  return  to  New  York  from  Virginia,  he  wrote  to 
John  O'Mahony  from  his  country  residence  in  Orange,  New  Jersey,  invitting 
him  to  spend  a  day  with  him  there,  as  he  desired  to  become  an  initiated 
member  of  the  Brotherhood  without  further  delay,  and  also  that  he  wishad 
to  have  a  long  and  uninterrupted  consultation  with  him  on  a  subject  that 
was  likely  to  exercise  an  important  influence  on  the  Irish  national  cause, — 
namely — the  strained  relations  which  then  existed  between  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  and  that  of  England  —  resulting  from  the  seizure  and. 
condemnation  of  the  steamship  Circassian  —  an  English  blockade-runner. 

Meagher  believed  that,  from  the  tenor  of  the  dispatches  between  the 
two  goveri  ments.  and  his  positive  knowledge  of  President  Lincoln's  determi 
nation  to  maintain  the  dignity  of  the  nation  at  all  hazards,  war  between 
the  two  countries  was  certain  to  result  —  unless  England  receded  from  her 
arrogant  attitude.  In  view  of  this  hopeful  prospect,  he  proposed  that  an 
oiler  be  made  the  Government  (in  case  of  a  rupture.)  lito  raise  a  body  of 
Irish  troops  for  service  in  Ireland,  and  which,  of  course,  would  be  com 
manded  by  experienced  Irish  officers.'' 

In  compliance  with  General  Meagher's  invitation,  Mr.  O'Mahony  went 
to  Orange  on  the  day  after  its  receipt,  and  then  and  there,  administered 
the  "  Pledge  of  Initiation''  into  the  Brotherhood.  Upon  the  other  matters 
that  transpired  at  that  meeting  it  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  at  present,  as 
the  war-cloud,  upon  the  bursting  of  which  so  much  of  their  hopes  were 
based,  turned  out  to  be  an  ordinary  wind-gust,  which,  after  much  bluster, 
passed  away  harmlessly,  though  leaving  unpleasant  feelings  behind  it. 

Notwithstanding  the  ungenerous  treatment  General  Meagher  and  his 
Brigade  received  at  the  hands  of  the  War  Department  officials,  President 
Lincoln  always  entertained  the  highest  esteem  and  most  kindly  feelings  for 
the  gallant  Irish  soldier.  That  their  confidential  relations  were  close  after 
Meagher's  retirement  from  the  army,  may  be  inferred  from  the  following 
dispatch— the  original  of  which  is  carefully  preserved  among  the  General's 
private  papers :  — 

DISPATCH  FROM  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN. 

'•WASHINGTON,  June  16,   "1863. 
"To   GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER, 

•'129  5th  Avenue,   N.  Y. 
"Your    dispatch    received.      Shall    be    very    glad    for    you    to   raise    three 


490  MEMOIESOF  GEN.   THOMAS  FHANC1S  MEAGHER. 

thousand    (3,000)    Irish    troops,    if    done    by    the    consent    of    and    in    concert 
with   Governor  Seymour. 

"A.  LINCOLN." 

As  the  date  of  the  foregoing  communication  closely  corresponds  with 
the  time  of  John  O'Mahony's  consultation  with  General  Meagher  at  Orange, 
there  can  be  little  doubt,  —  on  my  mind  at  all  events  —  as  to  its  meaning. 

General  Meagher  resided  in  New  York  for  the  remainder  of  the  year 
1863,  during  which  time  he  made  frequent  visits  to  the  head-quarters  of 
the  Fenian  Brotherhood.  When  the  first  convention  of  the  Fenian  Brother 
hood  was  announced  to  be  held  in  Chicago,  in  November  of  that  year, 
General  Meagher  was  elected  one  of  the  delegates  to  represent  the  Brother 
hood  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  He  had  made  arrangements  with  John 
O'Mabony  to  be  in  Chicago  in  time  for  the  opening  of  the  convention,  but 
was  called  to  Washington  before  the  date  appointed  for  his  departure  on  his 
western  journey.  On  his  return  to  New  York  he  sent  the  following  dispatch 
from  the  Fenian  Brotherhood  office :  — 

"NEW  YORK.   Nov.   4,  1863. 
"JOHN   O'MAHONY.    Fenian   Hall.    Chicago. 

"  Had  to  go  to  Washington  on  call  of  War  Department.  The  call  impe 
rative.  Have  to  go  again  on  Saturday.  Will  proceed  to  the  Army  from 
Washington  next  v  e^k.  I  heartily  concur  in  plan  and  regulations  of  reor 
ganization  as  proposed  by  you,  with  such  modifications  as  the  Convention 
adopts. 

"  Fraternity   and   harpiness  and  honor  to   all. 

'•THOS.   FRANCIS    MEAGHER." 

John   O'Mahony    acted   as   General   Meagher's  proxy  at  the   Convention. 

GENERAL  FRENCH'S  LETTER  TO  MEAGHER. 

Before  General  Meagher's  visit  to  the  army  he  received  the  following 
letter  from  his  old  ccmrade-in-nims.  the  veteran  General  French.  I  have 
found  it  among  his  private  papers,  and  copy  it  to  show  the  cordial  fiaterual 
feelings  that  existed  between  those  gallant  soldiers  of  the  Union:  — 

"  HEAD- QUARTERS  THIRD  ARMY  CORPS,  I 

September   2d,    18G3.          f 
"My  dear  General. — 

"I  would  have  paid  "my  dear  Meagher."  but  feared  you  would  for 
one  moment  think  you  were  not  expected  back  to  some  of  those  who  still 
survive  (few,)  wishing  to  stand  again  side  by  side  in  this  holy  war. 


VISITS  HIS    OLD    COMRADES.  491 

"  Our  mutual  friend,  Doctor  Reynolds,  gave  to  me  the  only  satisfactory 
account  of  yourself.  You  know  how  glad  I  am  always  to  hear  of  you, 
and  as  it  gave  me  great  pleasure  to  meet  again  one  to  whom  you  were  so 
much  attached,  and  who  was  a  reminder  of  historic  events  (a  short  way 
in  the  past.)  and  as  I  am  encamped  not  far  distant  Irom  your  '•  Druid 
Oaks  and  Bower,"  and  my  (as  you  complimentarily  designated  it)  —  '-Hen 
Roost."  Our  campaign  to  Rappahaunock  Station  under  the  noble  and  high- 
toned  Sumner,  I  am  writing  upon  those  reminiscences.  There  are  others 
which  can  take  care  of  themselves. 

u  With   the   friendliest   wish  that  you   may  be  happy  at   home  until   your 
call  for  the   field   will   bring  your   brilliant   talents   again  to  the  front, 
"  I    remain.    verjr   sincerely   your  friend, 

'•WM.   H.   FRENCH,    Maj.-Gen.  V. 
kt  GEN.   THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGIIER.  New  York." 

THE  GENERAL  VISITS  HIS  OLD  COMRADES. 

Towards  the  close  of  Xovember.  General  Meagher  paid  his  loner-expected 
visit  to  his  old  Brigade,  and  was  received  by  both  officers  and  men  with 
every  demonstration  of  esteem  and  affection.  The  Brigade  were  under  orders 
to  march  at  seven  o'clock  the  following  morning,  as  the  army  was  about 
crossing  thj  Rapidan.  The  General  marched  with  them  all  day,  and  was 
loudly  cheered  by  the  several  brigades  who  recognized  him  in  passing.  His 
recfption.  by  his  old  comrades  throughout  the  armv  was  most  cordial  and 
enthu.-iastic.  He  recrossed  the  Rapidan  with  them,  and  then  went  on  to 
Fairfax  Court  House  on  a  visit  to  General  Corcoran.  He  remained  there  as 
the  General's  guest  until  the  22d  of  December,  when  he  proceeded  to  Fair 
fax  Station  —  on  his  way  to  Washington,  where  he  was  to  meet  General 
Corcoran's  mother-in-law,  Mrs.  Meagher  and  other  ladies,  whom  General 
Corcoran  had  invited  to  spend  the  Christmas  holidays  with  him.  General 
Corcoran  accomparied  General  Meagher  to  Fairfax  with  a  cavalry  escort 
and  several  officers  of  the  Irish  Legion.  The  friends  shook  hands  at  the 
station  and  parted — their  last  parting  in  life.  A'as!  for  the  cause  and  the 
land  they  loved  and  served  so  faithfully  and  so  well ! 

On  the  22d  of  January,  1864.  just  one  month  after  General  Corcoran's 
sad  death,  General  Meagher  delivered  that  noble  tribute  to  his  loving  com 
patriot's  memory  which  I  have  embodied  in  a  previous  chapter  of  this  Me 
moir,  aud  which  will  forever  connect  the  names  of  both  in  the  grateful 
hearts  of  the  twin-nations  of  the  Gael. 


492  MEMOIliS  OF  GEN.   THOMAS  FRAXGIS  21EAGHER. 


GENERAL  MEAGHER  IN  TENNESSEE. 

In  the  Autumn  of  1864,  President  Lincoln  appointed  Brigadier-General 
Meagher  to  an  important  position  in  the  Provisional  Division  of  the  Army 
of  the  Tennessee,  with  instructions  to  report  to  M;'jor-General  James  B. 
Steadman,  at  the  head-quarters  of  the  District  of  the  Evowah  —  Chattanooga. 

In  the  month  succeeding  that  of  his  arrival  at  his  new  post.  General 
Steadman  was  called  by  General  Thomas  to  Nashville,  Teun ;  and,  previous 
to  his  departure  he  issued  an  Order,  assigning  General  Mea finer  to  the  com 
mand  of  the  Military  District  of  Etowah  during  his  absence,  with  his  head 
quarters  at  Chattanooga.  Acting-Msjor-General  Meagher's  force  consisted  of 
twelve  thousand  infantry,  two  regiments  of  cavahy,  several  batteries  of  field 
artillery,  and  a  large  number  of  heavy  guns  in  position  on  the  strong  works  de 
fending  Chattanooga.  In  addition  to  this  formidable  force,  he  organized  a  Civic 
Guard  of  two  the  us  and  men  in  Chattanooga  city,  and  so  admirable  was  his 
administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  District,  and  so  effectually  did  he  pro 
tect  the  public  property  from  the  depredations  of  the  guerillas  with  which 
the  country  swarmed,  that  he  received  the  highest  encomiums  from  General 
Steadman.  on  that  officer's  reassuming  command  of  the  Department. 

It  was  contemplated  that  General  Meagher  should  join  General  Sherman 
on  his  "  march  to  the  sesi,"  with  a  stroi  g  force  of  veterans,  composed  of 
detachments  from  the  loth  and  17ih  Army  Corps.  But  Meagher  had  no 
liking  for  the  method  of  warfare  which  the  exigencies  of  the  situation  led 
Sherman  to  adopt.  In  eulogizing  the  soldiers  of  the  Irish  Brigade  at  his- 
reception  by  the  Municipal  authorities  of  New  York,  he  proudly  said:  — 

"In  moments  of  excitement  they  never  gave  way  to  the  excesses  which 
for  the  most  part  disfigure  and  shamefully  blot  the  records  of  the  grandest 
victories.  The  houses,  cattle,  gardens,  corn-fields  and  other  property  of 
insurgent  families,  who  had  abandoned  them  to  the  mercy  of  the  nation, 
as  well  as  all  the  goods  and  chattels  belonging  to  families  who  stood  their 
ground,  were  respected  by  the  men  of  the  Irish  Brigade,  who  went  out 
from  here  to  fight  ar.d  put  down  the  armed  enemies  of  the  Republic,  and 
not  to  cast  naked  and  breadless  on  the  world,  the  women  and  children  and 
aged  fathers  of  the  delinquent  States." 

Actuated  by  these  principles,  General  Meagher  did  not  join  Sherman  on 
bis  famous  kl  march,"  but  resigned,  and  returned  to  his  home  in  New  York. 


CLOSING   SCENES.  403 


CLOSING  SCENES. 

General  Heather's  military  career  ended  with  his  return  from  Ten 
nessee.  Within  two  inoths  thereafter,  the  countiy  was  horrified  by  the  news 
of  President  Lincoln's  assassination.  Among  the  many  manifestations  of 
public  feeling  in  relation  to  that  awful  calamity  that  transpired  in  the  Me 
tropolis,  was  a  meeting  of  the  Irish  Brigade  at  the  Astor  House,  at  which 
General  Meagher  presided,  and  resolutions  of  Sympathy  with  the  general 
feeling  of  the  nation  in  relation  to  the  murder,  were  adopted. 

General  Meagher's  last  public  appearance  in  New  York  was  at  a  banquet 
given  in  Irving  Hall  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  18C5.  to  the  returned  soldiers 
of  the  Irish  Brigade.  A  few  days  subsequently,  the  President,  Andrew 
-Johnson,  tendered  him  the  Secretaryship  of  the  Teiritory  of  Montana,  which 
he  accepted. 

On  the  day  before  he  left  New  York  for  his  new  sphere  of  duly,  he 
called  at  the  Fenian  Brotherhood  office  to  bid  t-  good-bye "  to  Jehu  O'Mahony 
and  some  other  friends  there.  Among  those  present  on  that  occasion  was 
his  old  aid-de-camp,  Captain  John  D.  Hearn,  whom  the  General  urged  to 
-accompany  him  to  Montana,  —  but  as  the  Captain  was  then  about  proceed 
ing  to  Ireland  on  sptcial  duty,  he  felt  ccmtelUd  to  decline  the  Iritndly 
offer.  [He,  however,  lejoined  the  General  on  his  return  Irom  Ireland  in  the 
following  year.] 

It  was  on  that  day  that  I  last  saw  Thomns  Francis  Mesgher.  It  was 
more  than  seventeen  years  since'  cur  first  interview  in  Dublin.  We  parted 
in  good  spirits  —  hopeful  for  the  future  as  ever. 

The  Gei  tral  arrived  at  his  destination  in  the  beginning  of  October,  1SC5, 
and.  owing  to  the  absence  Irom  the  Territory  of  the  Governor,  the  duties 
of  Acting-Governor  devolved  upon  the  Secretary.  It  was  an  onerous  office, 
with  all  the  responsibilities  and  annoyances  of  the  governorship,  but  with 
out  its  compensating  rewards.  Meagher  was  never  fitted  to  deal  with  tricksy 
politicans. —  they  were  a  class  he  always  despised  and  detested.  But  during 
his  whole  carter  in  Montana  he  had  to  contend  with  such  selfish  intriguers; 
but  he  faced  them  with  his  characteristic  resoluteness  of  purpose,  and  did 
his  duty  to  the  reople  he  ruled  over  with  firmness  and  discretion.  His  chief 
compensation  for  the  annoyances  to  which  he  was  subjected,  was  derived 
from  the  contemplation  of  the  magnificent  scenery  through  which  he  traveled 
in  connection  with  his  official  duties.  Here  his  wondeiful  powers  of  descrip- 


494  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 

tion  found  full  scope  for  their  development;  and  In  a  series  of  papers 
entitled  '"'•Rides  Through  Montana,"1  written  for  Harper's  publications,  he  did 
justice  to  the  natural  beauties  of  that  wonderful  country. 

Nor  was  he  forgetful  meanwhile  of  a  fairer  and  dearer  land,  as  will  be 
seen  by  the  following  letter  written  three  weeks  before  his  death,  in  reply 
to  an  invitation  from  the  Fenian  Brotherhood  of  San  Francisco,  to  attend  a 
reunion  of  the  Irish  Nationalists  of  that  city  and  vicinity :  — 

"VIRGINIA  CITY,  MONTANA,  June  7th,  1867. 
"To  JOHN  HAMILL,  State  Centre. 

*•  Sir.  —  I  did  not  receive  yours  of  May  30th  until  my  return  yesterday 
from  camp,  three  days'  ride  from  here.  1  am  most  grateful  for  your  invi 
tation,  and  proud  of  it.  I  fear  greatly  that  I  cannot  be  with  you.  Gov 
ernor  Smith  won't  be  here  till  the  middle  of  July,  and  it  is  uncertain  when 
Secretary  Tuffts  will  arrive.  I  can't  leave  till  either  comes,  the  organic 
act  not  providing  for  any  one  taking  my  place  in  their  absence;  hence  I 
am  detained  here,  much  to  my  vexation. 

"  God   speed  the  Irish  nation   to  liberty  and  power  I " 

"  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER, 

u  Secretary   and  Acting-Governor." 

I  would  fain  end  my  labor  of  love  with  this,  his  latest  recorded  testi 
mony  of  his  devotion  to  Ireland.  On  the  particulars  of  his  death  —  which 
occurred  on  the  1st  of  July,  1867,  at  Fort  Beuton  —  I  have  no  heart  to 
enter.  All  that  is  known  of  them  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix— mainly 
in  the  Funeral  Oration  of  his  life-long  friend,  Kichard  O'Gorman. 

GOD  BEST  HIS  SOUL! 

"And  be  thou  bis  ceaseless  "caoiner"— mournful  wind  — 
For  ne'er  a  nobler  heart  — 
World-seeing  though  thou  art 
In  all  thy  boundless  kingdom  Ehait  thou  find." 


IN  MEMOBIAJH.  495 


IN  MEMORIAM,  T.  F.  M. 


AMONG  the  many  encouraging  manifestations  of  the  indestructible  spirit 
of  Irish  Nationality,  which,  apart  from  the  various  phases  of  political  agi 
tation,  tend  to  show  how  deeply  the  vital  principle  has  permeated  the  heart 
of  the  old  race  at  home,  the  earnest  determination  of  the  present  genera 
tion  to  rescue  from  oblivion  the  memory  of  their  patriot  dead  is  one  of 
the  most  beautifully  touching  in  sentiment,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most 
practical  and  effective  methods  of  perpetuating  the  principles  embodied  in 
the  national  creed,  of  which  the  commemorated  were  the  Confessors  or  the 
Martyrs. 

Heretofore  too  many  of  Ireland's  best  and  bravest,  her  most  earnest 
and  self-sacrificing,  have  been  consigned  to  unknown  or  forgotten  graves,  — 
their  names  and  deeds  buried  with  them,  or  only  preserved  in  the  traditions 
or  songs  of  the  people  for  whom  they  labored  in  life — or  died  that  their 
CAUSE  might  live. 

Wiser  than  their  forefathers  —  in  their  methods  of  testifying  their  devo 
tion  to  the  patriots  of  their  own  day,  the  hereditary  descendants  of  gener 
ations  of  4i  Rebels "(?)  have,  —  despite  the  frowns  of  the  tyrant  or  the  sneers 
of  his  obsequious  slaves,  nobly  dared  to  perform  their  duty  to  the  dead  by 
the  erection  of  some  lasting  testimonial  to  their  memory,  —  be  it  a  statue 
in  the  city  thoroughfare  or  a  ''  Celtic  Cross "  in  the  rural  church-yard. 

And  not  alone  are  Ireland's  illustrious  sons  —  those  whose  deeds  are 
fresh  in  the  recollections  of  their  living  associates  —  or  whose  glory  is 
reflected  in  the  pages  of  her  chequered  history  —  being  thus  honored  by  the 
true  men  of  to-day.  While  the  statues  of  GRATTAN,  O'CONNELL  and  O'BRIEN 
occupy  the  most  conspicuous  sites  in  the  Metropolis,  within  the  shadow  of 
the  lofty  tower  that  marks  the  grave  of  the  "  GREAT  TTIBUNE,"  there 
stands  the  ••  Celtic  Cross,"  recalling  to  future  generations  the  memory  of 
those  '-NOBLE-HEARTED  THREE, v  whose  calcined  bones  moulder  in  the 
accursed  soil  of  their  murderer.  While  in  Limerick,  PATRICK  SARSFIELD'S 
heroic  statue  commemorates  the  brave  who  fought  and  fell  by  the  lordly 
Shannon, —  the  symbol  of  Irish  Faith  and  self-sacrifice  erected  by  pious 
hands  on  OULART  HILL  evokes  a  prayer  for  the  souls  of  the  nameless 
heroes,  who,  by  the  gentle  Sianey,  lell  in  a  holier  cause  than  that  of  a 
coward  king. 


496  MEMOIRS   OF  GEN.    THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER 

"  THE  PEASANT  SOLDIER  OF  KILCLOONY  WOOD,"  resting  beside  his  humble 
kith  and  kin,  has  his  name  and  his  worth  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people,  who,  in  thousands,  kneel  and  pray  around  the  ;- Cross"  that  records 
the  story  of  his  life  and  death.  And  so,  in  every  quarter  of  the  land  they 
loved,  the  patriots  of  our  day  are  honored  by  their  appreciative  cotempo- 
raries,  and  their  deeds  recorded  as  an  incentive  and  an  example  to  future 
generations  to  follow  in  their  paih  with  an  assurance  of  their  memories 
being,  likewise,  kept  '-green." 

Yet,  with  all  these  encouraging  evidences  of  the  national  appreciation 
of  the  people's  representative  men,  is  it  not  unaccountable,  that  the  claims 
of  THOMAS  FEANCIS  MEAGHER  to  some  public  testimonial  to  his  memory 
have,  thus  far,  been  suffered  to  remain  in  abeyance. 

Though  the  obligation  to  so  honor  the  illustrious  patriot  is  national  in 
its  extent,  it  more  especially  devolves  upon  the  true  men  of  his  native  city. 
They,  undoubtedly,  take  a  commendable  pride  in  his  having  been  a  "  Water- 
ford  man."  They,  rightfully,  assume  that  the  glory  of  his  renown  consti 
tutes  a  portion  of  their  civic  heritage,  and  sheds  its  refulgence  over  city, 
hill  and  river  —  so  lamiliar  and  dear  to  his  joyous  childhood  and  glowing 
youth,  and  so  treasured  in  his  loving  heart  and  retentive  memory  to  the 
latest  moment  of  his  existence. 

But,  notwithstanding  all  that,  it  must  be  a  humiliating  fact  for  the 
patriotic  men  of  Waterford  to  ponder  on  —  that,  —  a  quarter  of  a  century 
after  Thomas  Francis  JVleagher's  death  —  (save  his  portrait  and  the  other 
mementoes  of  his  fame  which  adorn  their  Municipal  hall  —  and  which  are 
the  gifts  of  his  noble  American-born  widow  to  the  city  of  his  birth.) — no 
visible  testimonial  of  their  love,  admiration  or  gratitude  —  no  statue  iu  the 
city,  no  obe;isk  on  the  hill,  not  even  a  -'Celtic  Cross"  in  fane  or  church 
yard,  commeir orates  his  gtnius,  his  patriotism,  his  bravery,  his  boundless 
love  and  self-sacrificicg  devotion  —  not  alone  in  Wateriord  city  or  county, 
Jbut  within  the  -'Five  seas  of  Ireland!" 

Surely   this   strange   apathy  has   lasted  over   long. 

If  the  '-Pcpular  Leader?"  and  local  magnate*  of  Waterford  are  too  much 
•absorbed  in  what  they  ueem  "practical  poJitics"  to  afford  a  thought  to 
*-nieie  sentiment,"  suieiy.  there  must  be  some  one  amoLg  the  working  meu 
of  that  historic  old  city  —  ardent,  able  and  resolute,  who  will  appeal  to 
his  fellow-toilers  to  assume  the  initiation  in  this  bounden  duty  — of  raising 
on  Irish  soil,  a  fitting  testimonial  to  the  memory  of  the  People's  Champion  — 

THOMAS  FRAKCIS  MEAGHER. 


APPENDIX. 


GENERAL    MEAGHER. 

MEETING   OF  THE    IRISH    BRIGADE    OFFICERS. —RESOLUTIONS   OF 
THE   FENIAN   BROTHERHOOD. 


THE  officers  of  the  Irish  Brigade  met  at  the  Astor  House,  on  luesday 
evening,  August  13,  for  the  purpose  of  making  final  arrangements  for  tak 
ing  part  in  the  obsequies  of  the  late  Gen.  T.  F.  Meagher,  wkich  was  cele 
brated  on  Wednesday  morning,  14th  instant,  by  a  solemn  requiem  high 
mass,  at  St.  Francis  Xavier's  Church,  and  by  a  memorial  oration,  delivered 
in  the  evening,  in  the  Cooper  Institute,  by  Richard  O'Gormau,  Esq.  Dele 
gates  were  also  in  attendance  from  the  Knights  of  St.  Patrick  and  from 
the  Fenian  Brotherhood,  the  latter  being  conference  committees  from  their 
respective  organizations,  present  by  invitation,  to  ascertain  what  the  ar 
rangements  would  be  for  tomorrow's  ceremonial.  Colonel  James  Kelly  acted 
as  chairman,  and  Capt.  Charles  J.  Clark  as  secretary. 

The  Fenian  resolutions  were  then  read  and  ordered  to  be  spread  on  the 
minutes,  as  follows : 

At  a  meeting  of  the  delegates  of  the  Fenian  Brotherhood,  held  on  the 
10th  iiist.,  the  following  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted: 

WHEREAS  —  We  have  learned  with  profound  regret  of  the  death  of  General 
Meagher  while  engaged  in  the  service  of  his  adopted  country;  and 

AViiEiacAS  —  It  is  proper  that  we,  who  are  combined  for  the  purpose  of 
liberating  Ireland  from  the  yoke  of  England,  and  maintaining  a  free  inde 
pendent  government  of  the  Irish  soil,  should  give  expression  to  the  grief  we 
feel  at  the  loss  of  one  whose  name  is  associated  with  the  cause. 

Resolvei  —  That  we  deeply  deplore  the  death  of  General  Thomas  Francis 
Meagher,  who  brought  at  an  early  age  to  the  service  of  his  native  land  a 
brilliant  genius,  a  gifted  mind  and  an  uncompromising  fidelity,  and  who, 
either  as  an  orator,  inspiring,  in  immortal  language,  enthusiasm  into  the 
national  ranks  and  denouncing  British  oppression,  or  as  a  deputy  to  the 
French  nation,  or  in  the  dock,  acted  with  ability,  credit  and  fortitude  the 
part  of  the  Irish  patriot. 

Resolved  —  That  we  sympathize  with  Ireland  on  this  sad  event,  and  with 
the  American  people,  who  generously  welcomed  him  to  thoir  shores. 


APPENDIX. 


Resolred  —  That  we  tender  the  expressions  of  our  condolence  to  the  Irish 
Brigade,  in  whose  campaigns  he  shared,  and  whose  chivalry  and  bravery  he 
has  so  eloquently  recorded. 

Resolved  —  That  we  extend  our  profound  sympathy  to  the  family  of  Gen 
eral  Meagher  in  this  their  hour  of  affliction. 

Resolved  —  That  a  copy  of  the  above  resolutions  be  sent  to  Mrs.  Meagher, 
and  also  published  in  the  newspapers  of  the  cities  of  New  York,  Boston  and 
Waterford,  Ireland. 

WALTER  J.  M.  O'DWYER, 
HENRY  T.  CARROLL, 
MANUS  MCNULTY, 
DENIS  O'SULLIVAN, 
WILLIAM  O'CONNELL, 

.     Committee  on  litsolutions. 


OBSEQUIES  OF  GENERAL  MEAGHER. 

REQUIEM  MASS  AT  THE   CHURCH    OF   ST.   FRANCIS   XAVIER.  —  ELO 
QUENT   ORATION  BY   RICHARD   O'GOEMAN. 

On  the  morning  of  Wednesday,  August  the  14th,  a  large  congregation 
assembled  in  the  Church  of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  Sixteenth  street,  to  witness 
the  requiem  mass  for  the  late  Thomas  Francis  Meagher.  The  officers  of  the 
Irish  Brigade,  who  had  charge  of  the  obsequies,  were  present  in  large  num 
bers,  and  each  was  distinguished  by  a  sprig  of  box,  as  a  memento  of  their 
engagement  at  Fredricksburg,  in  which  they  participated.  The  admission  to 
the  edifice  was  by  tickets,  and  shortly  before  the  ceremonies  commenced 
every  pew  was  occupied,  and  the  porch  was  thronged  with  visitors,  who 
arrived  too  late  to  obtain  seats.  Among  those  present  were  Colonel  James 
Kelly,  Colonel  Kavanagh,  General  Berger,  Colonel  Gleeson,  Captain  Condon, 
Major  Haverty,  Captain  Dempsey,  Captain  Keeffe,  Captain  Stacom,  and  others. 
A  detachment  of  the  Sixty-ninth  regiment  was  also  present  in  uniform. 

The  drapery  of  the  church  was  in  harmony  with  the  sad  occasion,  the 
altar,  galleries,  pulpit  and  organ  chamber  being  hung  with  "  solemn  black," 
in  the  center  of  which  were  emblems  of  mortality  and  redemption.  A  mem 
orial  catafalque  was  placed  near  the  sanctuary. 

At  half-past  nine  o'clock  the  services  commenced  with  the  usual  proces 
sion  from  the  sacristy,  after  which  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lory  sung  the  requiem 
mass,  Rev.  Fathers  Hudson  and  Therry  acting  respectively  as  deacon  and 
sub-deacon,  and  Mr.  Beteucour  as  master  of  ceremonies.  The  music  con- 


APPENDIX. 


sisted    of    Cherubim's    requiem    mass,   which    was    excellently    sung.      At    the 
offertory  the  O   Salutaris,   of  AVehli,   was  finely  rendered. 

The  services  closed  with  the  Libera  in  which  the  Rev.  Mr.  Loyzan  offi 
ciated,  after  which  the  audience  dispersed. 

COOPER  INSTITUTE  MEETING.  —  GRAND  EULOGY  BY  RICHARD  O'GORMAN. 

In  the  evening  a  large  audience  assembled  in  the  Cooper  Institute  to 
hear  an  eulogy  on  the  late  General  Meagher  by  Richard  O'Gorman.  The 
platform  was  occupied  by  officers  of  all  the  Irish  regiments  in  the  city, 
and  the  representatives  of  the  various  civic  societies,  including  the  Fenian 
Brotherhood.  A  variety  of  Celtic  and  American  flags  were  conspicuously  dis 
played  on  either  side  of  the  rostrum  —  a  portrait  of  the  late  General 
Meagher  being  in  the  centre. 

At  8  o'clock  Mr.  O'Gorman,  who  was  loudly  cheered  when  he  appeared, 
spoke  as  follows: 

MR.  O'GORMAN's  ORATION. 

The  funeral  rites  have  all  been  duly  performed.  The  bell  has  tolled. 
The  solemn  mass  for  the  dead  has  been  sung.  The  melancholy  strains  of 
the  "  Dies  Irse,"  saddest  of  all  utterances  of  human  woe,  still  linger  in  the 
hearts  of  all  that  sorrowing  throng  who,  this  morning,  knelt  before  the 
altar,  where,  with  all  the  pomp  of  its  time-honored  ceremonies,  with  sacrifice 
and  prayer,  the  Church  of  Christ  consigned  the  soul  of  its  departed  child 
to  the  forgiveness  and  mercy  of  Him  who  promised  that  He  would  be  the 
resurrection  and  the  life,  and  that  every  one  that  lived  and  believed  in  Him 
should  not  die  forever.  No  higher  honors,  no  heartier  sorrow,  no  more 
earnest  prayer  could  attend  on  its  last  journey  the  soul  of  the  proudest 
lord  on  the  earth  than  have  followed  what  is  eternal  and  immortal  of  him 
who,  but  a  few  weeks  ago,  was  a  living  man,  beloved  and  honored  by  us 
all,  Thomas  Francis  Meagher.  To  me  it  seemed  that  in  the  ceremonies  of 
the  church  this  breathing  world  had  bade  him  its  most  touching,  most 
solemn  farewell;  but  there  were  some  who  wished  that,  before  this  day  of 
mourning  had  gone  by,  before  we  had  turned  back  to  the  every-day  work 
of  life,  to  its  distractions,  to  its  thousand  cares  and  details  that  drowi 
memory  and  thought,  some  one  of  those  who  had  known  him  longest  and 
best,  should  say  a  word  or  two  about  him,  and  teach  those  who  had  met 
him  but  for  a  moment  in  the  rough  highway  of  life,  how  much  of  what 
wras  good  and  noble,  and  generous  and  heroic,  was  in  this  man  whose  name 
has  for  twenty  years  been  frequent  on  men's  lips,  and  whose  memory  will 
still  be  kept  green  in  the  souls  of  those  who  loved  him,  when  those  who 
may  be  disposed  to  judge  him  harshly  now,  shall  be  themselves,  and  all 
their  doings  shall  be  on  trial  before  the  hard  tribunal  of  men's  thoughts. 
He  is  gone.  The  pitiless  Missouri,  hurrying  fast  to  the  sea,  has  enwrapped 
him  in  a  wratery  shroud,  and  dug  him  a  lonely  grave  beneath  its  turbid 
waves.  That  matters  little  to  him.  He  had  faced  death  often  on  the  bat 
tlefield,  where,  in  the  press  of  continued  conflict,  the  bodies  of  heroes  lay 


unrecognized  and  unburied,  or  were  placed  in   one   common   grave,  friend  and 
foe    side    by    side,    unknown    and    undistinguished    in    the    bloody    equality  of 
war.      He  is    gone.      His  journey  of    forty-three  years,   from    the  cradle  to  the 
grave,   is  done.    His  battle  of  life  has  been  fought ;  its  strife  and  struggle  are 
ended.      It   was   not   his.    indeed,   to   succeed    in    the    great    objects    for  which 
lie   strove.      He   saw  the   wreck  of   many  a  cherished  hope  and  many  a  daz 
zling    vision    turned    out    but    a    waking    dream.       Yet  his   hopes    were    high 
hopes ;  his   dreams   were   dreams   such  as  good  men  dream,   of  increased  free 
dom   and  happiness   to   man.      For  these  he  dared   in   perilous    times  to    raise 
voioe  and   sword,  and   through  all   the  vicissitudes  of  his   life  he  bore  himself 
like    a    man    loyal    to    the    good    cause  he   first    loved  —  the    salvation    of    his 
native    island    and  her    people,   faithful   to   the  flag    he  followed  —  the  flag  of 
the  Republic  which   gave  him  a  welcome   and  a  home ;  loyal  and  faithful  not 
in   seeming  or  in   words   alone,  but  in   the  deeds   of  earnest  devotion   and  sac 
rifice   of  self,   wherein  men    put   to    hazzard   what    men    most  prize  on    earth, 
•ease  and  pleasure,   and  liberty  and    life.      How  the    old  times  come  back   to 
me  when    I    think    of    him    and    of    the    scenes  when    first   I   met  him.      Old 
friends   seem  to  throng  around  me  again,   and  voices  to   whisper  to  me    that 
have  been   silent  for  years.     How  well  I  remember  that   splendid  hour  —  more 
than  twenty  golden  years  ago  —  when  the  intellect  of  Ireland  awoke  from   its 
long    torpor,   and    by   voice    and    pen,   in   lesson  and   song,   and  legend  of  the 
past,   spoke   to  the    souls  of    the   Irish  people,  and  for  awhile  they  dared  to 
think  and    hope    and    strive  for  the  redemption  of  their  crushed  and  insulted 
island.      For  years  the  voice  of   the  great   Tribune,   O'Connell.   had  thundered 
in  the  ears   of    the    multitude     his   denunciation  of  that    fatal    act  which  had 
robbed   Ireland   of  its   independent  existence,  of  its   national  Parliament,  of  all 
the  bright    hopes    of    prosperity  and    progress,   which    had    grown    up  in    the 
short,   but   brilliant,    era   of  her  legislative   independence.      He  told  us  of  the 
days   when    Flood    and    G rattan,   with   eloquence    that    shall    live  as    long    as 
the   language   in   which  they   spoke,   proclaimed    the  rights  of    the  Irish    Par 
liament,     and   now   one  hundred  thousand  armed  volunteers   stood  ready  with 
their   swords   to  make  the   declaration   good.     .He   told  how.   with  miraculous 
rapidity,  the   slumbering  power  of  the  Irish  nation  awoke,   and  the  fair  form, 
so   long    bowed    and    soiled    in    sorrow,   arose    and    smiled    again    in    all    her 
ancient     beauty  —  an    Island     Queen.      Then    how    the    short    and    happy    era 
passed    like    a    sunny  hour    in    a  winter's    day.   and    by   fraud    and    force,    by 
treachery  as    bad    men    resort    to    for    bad    ends,   Ireland  was    robbed    of  her 
legal  rights   as   an   independent  kingdom,    and   crushed  and   strangled  and  suf 
focated   in   that   fatal    grasp,   which   knaves    and    fools    did    then   call    the  Act 
of  Union       These   things  day  after   day  O'C'ounell  told  to  listening  thousands, 
with    all    the    fire   of    eloquence    that   was    in    him,    till   at   last,   as   his   voice 
grew    bolder    and    more    defiant,   it    found    its   way   to    the    quiet    halls  where 
students    poured    over    the    dreams    of    sages.       It    entered    there    and    stirred 
their  souls,   and  they  closed  their  books  —  the   fatal    books,  that  tell  of    Gre 
cian   valor  and  .Roman  constancy,    of    great   deeds    done   in   the  ancient    days; 
the  fatal   books,   that  tell   of  heroic   conflicts   where  weakness,    armed  for  the 
right,    had    done    successful    battle    with    the    guilty    strong,    how    men    had 
risked   laud    and    limb    and  life    for    the  commonwealth  in    the    brave  davs   of 


APPENDIX. 


old.  They  closed  them  and  laid  them  down,  not  as  the  prudent  men  do- 
in  order  to  forget  them  and  save  their  soul?  from  the  contagion  of  such 
examples ;  not  for  this,  but  that  they  might  imitate  them  and  put  them  to 
use,  that  they  might  themselves  tread  the  same  perilous  path,  and  teach  their 
people  to  save  the  island  they  loved.  Of  these  young  enthusiasts  was  in 
great  part  formed  the  party  sometimes  called  "  Young  Ireland."  They  were 
honest,  pure,  unselfish,  gallant  men.  They  did  wonders.  They  made  a 
native  literature  which  has  survived  them  and  will  never  die.  They  did 
create  and  foster  a  public  opinion  in  Ireland  and  make  it  racy  of  the  soil. 
Song,  native  and  homefelt,  gushed  up  at  their  bidding,  as  did  of  old  in  the 
the  desert  the  life-giving  waters  when  the  rock  was  touched  by  the  proph 
et's  wand.  While  the  English  language  is  spoken,  these  simple  ballads  will 
not  be  forgotten,  but  will  be  read  and  sung  in  cottage  and  palace  all  over 
the  earth  wherever  beats  in  men's  hearts  the  strong  current  of  Irish  blood* 
How  can  I  think  of  them  —  how  can  I  speak  of  them  without  emotion  — 
these  simple,  noble,  true-hearted  gentlemen  among  whom  it  is  my  pride  to- 
have  had  the  least  place.  How1  many  of  them  I  have  seen  depart,  one  by  one. 
How  few  of  them  remain,  and  now  he  that  was  the  youngest  and  most 
brilliant  of  them  all,  he  whom,  when  scarce  out  of  boyhood,  they  wel 
comed  into  their  ranks  with  so  glad  a  welcome,  he  in  whom  they  hoped  so 
much,  he  whom  they  all  loved,  not  more  for  his  genius,  than  for  his  sim 
ple,  fresh  and  genial  nature,  he,  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  has  followed  them 
to  that  better  land,  where  friends  long  parted  fondly  hope  to  meet  again. 
Meagher  was  little  more  than  twenty-two  when  his  voice  was  first  heard  in 
a  popular  assemblage.  From  the  first  there  was  the  ring  of  true  eloquence 
in  all  he  said.  He  was  bold,  direct  and  fearless.  Others  had  caught  up 
the  harp  of  Ireland  and  taught  it  to  awaken  memories  and  hopes  that  long 
had  slept.  But  Meagher's  voice  was  as  the  trnmpet  blast  to  rouse  the 
whole  island  and  startle  it  into  enterprise  and  action.  His  popularity  was 
unbounded.  He  won  all  hearts  and  impressed  all  with  the  conscious 
ness  of  his  power,  till  we  thought  we  heard  in  the  voice  of  that  inspired 
boy  a  magic  as  mighty  as  Grattan's,  to  fire  the  breast,  convince  the  rea 
son,  and  elevate  the  soul  to  that  noble  daring  to  which  nothing  is  impos 
sible.  His  career  was  as  short  as  it  was  dazzling.  O'Connell,  worn  out  by 
years  and  labor,  laid  him  down  and  died.  The  political  machinery  he  had 
constructed  fell  into  feeble  hands  and  broke  to  pieces.  All  over  the  con 
tinent  of  Europe  the  minds  of  men  began  to  be  stirred  by  an  angry  con 
sciousness  of  wrong,  and  the  people's  wrath  lay  smouldering  like  a  fire 
Availing  for  the  breath  that  was  to  fan  it  into  flame.  It  came.  France, 
dishonored  by  a  monarch  who  had  dared  to  trille  with  the  instincts 
and  pride  of  the  French  people,  flew  to  arms  and  trampled  throne  and 
sceptre  under  its  feet.  Poland,  Hungary,  Italy,  sprung  up  at  the  sig 
nal.  All  over  Europe,  among  the  people  long  oppressed,  went  forth  the 
cry  "  We  will  have  no  foreign  masters.  Our  land  is  ours,  and  we  will 
have  it  for  our  own."  And  Ireland  —  the  Poland  of  the  sea — Ireland,  the 
most  wretched  of  all  —  failing  in  every  attempt  to  obtain  from  the  British 
Parliament  compliance  with  her  prayers,  is  it  wonderful  that  she,  too, 
dreamt  that  her  hour  of  deliverance  was  at  hand,  and  that  she  could  wring; 


APPENDIX. 


from  Britain,  with  the  armed  hand,  that  national  self-government  under 
which  she  had  been  once  so  happy?  The  hour  seemed  propitious.  An 
European  war  was  imminent,  and  it  was  not  likely  that  England  could  keep 
aloof.  The  storm  seemed  gathering  fast.  In  Ireland  bold  words  had  been 
spoken  —  it  was  time  to  put  them  to  the  test.  Men  began  to  ask  "What 
will  Meagher  do?  He  who  grandly  aphostrophized  'the  sword,'  will  he 
dare  to  try  its  metal  now?"  He  did  not  shrink  from  the  ordeal.  He 
deemed  himself  in  honor  bound  —  himself  to  take  for  weal  or  for  woe  the 
risks  he  had  invited  others  to  assume.  He  threw  himself  among  the  peo 
ple,  ready  to  lead  or  to  follow,  as  they  pleased,  going  forth  to  face  fearful 
odds  with  a  heart  as  light  as  if  he  thought  there  was  merry-making  before 
him,  and  not  the  harvest  of  death.  Remember  he  had  nothing  to  gain  and 
everything  to  lose  —  an  honorable,  social  position,  the  prospect  of  wealth, 
the  reputation  of  distinguished  ability  —  all  the  advantages  that  give  to 
youth  sure  promise  of  a  brilliant  and  prosperous  future.  All  these  things 
that  men  most  love  he  cast  into  the  balance,,  and  chose  to  share  the  fate 
of  the  crushed  and  forlorn  people.  But  the  struggle  was  not  to  be. 
France  stood  still  and  looked  on  in  apathy;  while  the  nations  whom  her 
example  had  fired  .into  revolt  —  the  nations  on  whose  independence  her  own 
safety  depended  —  were,  one  by  one,  crushed  and  re-enslaved.  England, 
freed  from  the  danger  of  European  war,  stood  armed  and  prepared.  To 
the  Irish  people  the  odds  against  them  seemed  too  heavy,  and  the  means 
at  their  disposal  too  poor  and  weak.  They  did  not  revolt ;  no  blow  was 
struck.  Colder,  perhaps  wiser,  counsels  prevailed,  and  the  opportunity,' 
if  it  was  one,  went  by  forever.  The  Government,  watchful  and  active,  at 
once  put  forth  the  arm  of  the  law.  O'Brien.  Meagher,  and  others,  were 
arrested,  tried  for  high  treason,  found  guilty  and  condemned  to  death. 
Then  once  more  spoke  the  young  orator,  and  this  is  what  lie  said : 

[Mr.  O'Gorman  here  read  Meagher's  speech  in  the  dock  at  Clonmel, 
which  will  be  found  in  its  proper  place  in  the  body  of  this  book.] 

Remember,  he  then  thought  that  speech  was  to  be  his  last.  These  words 
he  uttered,  looking  death  in  the  eye.  Tell  me,  have  you  ever  known  of  any 
man.  that  in  such  a  trying  hour,  uttered  a  more  gallant,  noble,  dignified 
protest9  Think  of  this,  you,  if  there  be  any  who  deem  that  we  who 
knew  this  man  loved  him  above  his  deserts ;  you  who  knew  him  only  by 
his  faults,  and  who  may  now  be  disposed  to  magnify  them  and  to  belittle 
his  virtues,  fancy  yourselves,  if  you  can  dare  to  fancy  it,  in  such  a  strait, 
and  tell  me  if  you  could  thave  raised  your  souls  to  so  grand  an  eminence 
as  his  who  that  day  set  the  prisoner  above  the  judge  who  tried  him,  and 
dignified  the  felon's  dock  till  it  became,  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  a  temple 
of  freedom. 

You  know  how  the  sentence  of  death  was  commuted,  not  mitigated,  to  that 
of  banishment  for  life  in  a  penal  settlement,  and  Meagher  was  sent  to  spend 
the  rest  of  his  days  a  convict  among  convicts,  in  Van  Dieman's  Laud.  Death 
seemed  better;  death  in  the  island  he  loved,  with  his  last  look  resting  on  Irish 
soil,  on  Irish  hill  and  sky.  But  to  live  and  see  his  career  closed  at  twenty-five; 
to  hear  from  afar  the  great  sea  of  life  surging  around,  and  never  to  have  a 
venture  on  the  tide;  to  see  the  great  game  of  life  played  by  other  hands, 


APPENDIX. 


aiid  he  to  stand  by  inactive,  and  only  to  watch  and  mark  the  game,  to 
rot  out  a  stagnant  existence,  to  die  a  living  death.  This  was  hard  to  bear, 
and  it  seemed  to  be  all  his  future.  But  what  man  can  cast  his  own  hor 
oscope  or  predict  to-day  what  shall  befall  him  to-morrow?  Meagher  left 
Irish  hearts  and  Irish  love  behind  him  in  Ireland,  but  to  find  them  watch 
ing  and  waiting  for  him  at  the  antipodes.  For,  let  me  tell  you,  all  over 
the  earth,  North  and  South,  East  aud  West;  wherever  you  may  wander, 
vou  shall  scarcely  find  a  spot  so  remote,  so  desolate  that  an  Irishman  who 
loves  Ireland,  and  whom  Ireland  loves,  will  not  find  there  a  welcome  and  a 
friend.  In  Van  Diemau's  Land  Meagher  found  true  and  faithful  friends. 
He  placed  himself  in  their  hands.  They  planned  his  escape.  It  was  suc 
cessful,  and  in  1852  he  set  foot  on  American  soil,  once  more  a  free  man. 
Vou  all  remember  with  what  an  outburst  of  enthusiasm  all  sorts  of  men 
welcomed  him  to  this  republic.  It  was  among  the  halcyon  days  of  Amer 
ica.  There  was  nothing  to  disturb,  distract  or  embitter  men's  thoughts.  In 
an  unchecked  career  of  peace,  prosperity  and  honor,  the  great  llepublic, 
secure  and  incredulous  of  danger,  moved  proudly  along.  Her  large  heart 
over-flowed  with  benevolence  and  hospitality,  and  to  have  striven  and  suffered 
for  a  people's  liberty  was  a  sure  passport  to  men's  homes  and  hearts.  The 
desire  to  hear  the  young  orator  was  universal.  Meagher,  for  a  time,  pre 
ferred  silence  and  privacy,  but  in  the  end  the  popular  wish  prevailed,  and 
he  began  a  series  of  lectures  which,  with  other  literary  labors,  became  his 
chief  occupation  for  some  years. 

He  was  everywhere  successful,  and  sustained  his  great  reputation.  But 
those  that  knew  him  best  saw  that  he  was  altered,  that  the  disasters  which 
he  had  undergone  had  hurt  him,  that  some  of  his  early  fire  had  been 
quenched,  aud  that  his  eloquence  had  lost  the  vigor  which  had  been  its 
chief  charm  in  Ireland.  His  was  a  mind  that  needed  the  inspiration  of  a 
great  purpose.  That  to  which  he  had  devoted  his  early  efforts  was  gone, 
and  none  other  came  to  supply  its  place.  But  events  in  America  were 
shifting  fast.  The  strife  of  lactions,  in  whose  healthy  action  free  societies 
must  always  find  their  surest  guarantees  of  safely,  was  becoming  bitter  and 
sectional.  Wild,  reckless,  angry  and  wicked  threats  and  challenges  were 
made  and  answered,  and  a  fatal  madness  swept  over  the  land.  There  were 
some  who  spoke  words  of  warning,  of  reconciliation  and  peace.  It  was  too 
late.  The  cloud  spread  and  darkened  all  the  horizon,  and  the  storm  broke 
in  thunder.  You  remember  well  how,  on  the  first  breaking  out  of  the  civil 
war,  when  the  first  shot  was  fired  on  the  national  flag,  the  great  mass  of 
the  people  of  the  Irish  race  on  this  continent  took  sides  with  the  legally 
organized  Government  of  the  United  States.  The  Sixty-ninth  Regiment  of 
the  New  York  State  Militia  \\  as  among  the  first  to  hurry  to  the  defence  of 
Washington*.  With  it  went  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  in  conmiaud  of  _a 
company  which  he  had  organized. 

His  was  no  factious  motive.  He  knew  little  of  parties  or  their  purposes. 
He  had  no  unkind  feeling  towards  the  South.  He  believed  that  the  integ 
rity  of  the  Union  was  endangered,  and  that  by  a  speedy  display  of  force 
the  fatal  project  might  be  checked  in  time,  and  he  went  forth  to  imperil 
his  lile  for  tLe  sake  of  the  houae  of  his  adoption  with  as  pure  a  purpose, 


APPENDIX 


as  cheerful  a  heart,  as  that  with  which  he  faced  the  rebel's  doom  for  the 
salvation  of  the  land  of  his  birth.  One  other  thought,  too,  lay  near  his 
heart  —  a  thought  that  quickened  the  pulse  of  every  Irishman  that  marched 
then  under  the  starry  flag,  that  sang  to  him  at  the  camp-fires,  and  whis 
pered  to  him  as  he  paced  the  sentinel's  lonely  rounds.  It  was  this:  that 
in  the  course  of  the  civil  war  America  might  learn,  what  Irish  instinct 
well  knew,  the  jealousy  with  which  the  governing  classes  in  Britain  ever 
look  on  her  revolted  colonies,  and  that  our  war  might  be  ended  by  the 
armies  of  a  reunited  North  and  South  marching  side  by  side  under  the 
old  flag  against  the  seeming  Iriend  but  real  foe  of  the  Republic;  the  subtle, 
wily,  persistent  conspirator  against  all  national  repose  or  freedom  or  pro 
gress  all  over  the  earth,  save  her  own  —  Great  Britain. 

You  know  of  the  Battle  of  Bull  Eun,  and  how  all  through  that  disas 
trous  day  Meagher  bore  himself  Avith  conspicuous  gallantry.  He  returned 
to  New  York,  and  by  his  efforts  was  organized  the  Irish  Brigade,  of  which 
he  became  the  commanding  officer.  The  rest  of  the  story  should  not  be 
told  by  me.  I  see  many  a  man  around  me  who  followed  all  the  fortunes  of 
that  gallant  corps,  and  who  will  carry  the  consciousness  of  his  share  in  its 
achievements  as  his.  proudest  memory,  to  his  grave.  It  was  the  old  story. 
Never  did  Clare,  or  Dillon,  or  Sarsfield  more  gallantly  lead  on  gallant  men 
on  Landen,  on  Cremona,  on  Fontenoy,  than  did  Meagher,  when  he  cheered  on 
the  boys  of  his  Irish  Brigade  at  Fair  Oaks,  Malvern  Hill,  Antietem,  or, 
when  at  Fredericksburg,  he  obeyed  the  fatal  order  that  doomed  the  Irish  Brigade 
to  hopeless  slaughter  in  the  attack  on  Marye's  Heights.  Aye !  Be  proud  of 
the  Irish  Brigade.  Be  proud  of  him  who  led  it.  Preserve  his  memory, 
ye  who  served  with  him  in  these  days  of  fire  and  death.  Three  thousand 
men  were  in  that  Brigade  when  it  went  into  the  war;  five  hundred  were 
all  that  left  it.  Yet  it  never  disobeyed  an  order,  never  lost  a  flag,  never 
lost  hope,  or  heart,  or  cheerfulness.  "  It  fought  as  it  revelled,  fast,  fieiy, 
and  true,"  facing  danger  with  a  smile,  laughing  at  fatigue  and  hardship,  and 
breasting  the  red  surges  of  war  with  a  cheer  as  gay  and  ringing  as  other 
men  utter  when  they  have  won  a  victory  in  some  athletic  game.  "A  some 
what  irregular  nature  —  this  Irish  nature,"  —  I  think  I  hear  some  amateur 
philanthropist  observe.  Aye!  as  irregular  as  the  granite  boulder  on  which 
the  foundations  of  continents  rests  —  irregular  and  as  massive.  As  irregulai 
as  the  young  river  that  comes  rushing,  laughing,  bounding  from  the  moun 
tain  side,  leaping  from  cataract  to  cataract,  from  fall  to  fall,  now  deep, 
now  rapid,  always  wayward  and  free,  never  learning  to  be  staid  and  regu 
lar  and  respectible  until  it  passes  by  the  cities  and  marts  of  commerce,  and 
becomes  tainted  and  stained  with  its  impurities.  Oh,  if  this  world  had  none 
but  regular  natures  and  regular  men  in  it,  where  would  the  world  be9 
"Where  would  be  its  valor,  its  self-sacrifice,  its  heroism,  its  Faith?  "When 
the  hours  of  life  pass  peacefully  in  easy  routine  along,  then  the  regulai 
natures  and  the  regular  men  sow  the  seed  and  gather  the  harvest,  and 
grow  rich,  and  dream  that  all  society  should  be  made  only  of  such  as  they. 
But  in  the  strange  economy  of  life  all  natures  have  their  uses.  When  the 
crisis  comes ;  when  the  fabric  of  society  is  shaken ;  when  the  blast  of  foreign  or 
civil  war  sounds  in  our  ears ;  when  the  sky  is  overcast  and  all  the  earth  rocks 


APPENDIX. 


and  shudders  with  hidden  throes;  when  the  times  are  themselves  irregular, 
portentous,  full  of  fear  — then  irregular  natures  and  irregular  men  are  needed 
to  these  deeds  of  devotion,  self-sacrifice,  reckless  valor,  by  which  alone,  in 
evil  hours,  nations  can  be  saved.  Were  this  city  threatened  tomorrow  with 
invasion,  I  think  all  "Wall  street  would  agree  with  me  that  its  defence 
would  be  more  wisely  entrusted  to  one  thousand  of  the  least  regular  men 
amongst  us,  than  to  the  same  number  culled  from  among  the  wealthiest 
financiers  or  the  largest  merchants  that  have  ever  frowned  at  the  errors  and 
weaknesses  of  those  whose  strong  temptations  they  have  never  known,  and 
whose  characters  they  could  never  comprehend.  Ah,  God  help  us!  If 
heaven  did  not  judge  more  kindly  than  we  judge  one  another,  how  few  of 
us  would  see  salvation.  But  I  must  hurry  to  a  close.  The  Irish  Brigade, 
in  fact,  ceased  to  exist.  It  was  reduced  to  a  batallion  of  a  few  hundred 
men.  In  February,  1863,  General  Meagher  wrote  to  the  then  Secretary  of  War, 
asking  that  it  might  be  sent  home  to  recruit  its  ranks,  as  had  been  done 
by  other  commands.  The  request  was  denied,  and  after  the  battle  of 
Chaucellorsviille,  General  Meagher  resigned  his  command.  His  farewell 
address  to  his  comrade?,  the  remnant  of  the  brigade,  contains  this  passage, 
which  I  cannot  forbear  to  read: 

"  Sharing  with  the  humblest  soldier  freely  and  heartily  all  the  hard 
ships  and  dangers  of  the  battlefield  —  never  having  ordered  an  advance  that 
I  did  not  take  the  lead  myself  —  I  thank  God  that  I  have  been  spared  to 
do  justice  to  those  whose  heroism  deserves  from  me  a  grateful  commemora 
tion;  and  that  I  have  been  preserved  to  bring  comfort  to  those  who  have 
lost  fathers,  husbands  and  brothers  in  the  soldiers  who  have  fallen  for  a 
noble  government  under  the  green  flag.  My  life  has  been  a  varied  one, 
and  I  have  passed  through  many  distracting  scenes.  But  never  -has  the 
river  that  flowed  beside  iny  cradle,  never  have  the  mountains  that  overlooked 
the  paths  of  my  childhood,  never  have  the  old  walls  that  claimed  the  curiosity 
and  research  of  maturer  days,  been  effaced  from  my  memory.  As  at  first 
—  as  in  nature  —  the  beautiful  and  glorious  picture  is  indelible.  Not  less 
vivid,  not  less  uuefTaceable,  will  be  the  recollection  of  my  companionship 
with  the  Irish  Brigade  in  the  service  of  the  United  States.  The  graves  of 
many  hundreds  of  .brave  and  devoted  soldiers,  who  went  to  death  with  all  the 
radiance  and  enthusiasm  of  the  noblest  chivalry,  are  so  many  guarantees  and 
pledges  that,  as  long  as  there  remains  one  officer  or  soldier  of  the  Irish 
Brigade,  so  long  shall  there  be  found  for  him,  for  his  family  and  little 
ones,  if  any  there  be,  a  devoted  friend  in 

"  THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER." 

He  was  answered  by  resolutions  expressive  of  confidence  and  affection 
from  all  the  officers  and  men  of  the  Brigade.  So  closed  his  career  as  a 
soldier,  and  his  connection  with  that  corps  whose  reputation  with  that  of 
the  Irish  Legion,  its  twin  brother  in  heroism,  will  live  in  every  authentic 
memorial  of  the  civil  war,  past  and  gone,  I  trust,  for  ever.  The  last 
years  of  his  life  was  spent  in  the  territory  of  Montana,  of  which  he  was 
Secretary  and  Acting-Governor  at  the  time  of  his  death.  He  died  in  the 
service  of  the  United  States  and  in  the  performance  of  his  duty.  On  his 


10  APPENDIX. 


last  hours  there  rests  no  stain  or  reproach.  After  a  day  of  hard  labor  he 
sought  a  night  of  repose.  An  old  steamboat,  moored  to  the  shore,  afforded 
him  a  place  wherein  to  sleep.  This  account  of  his  death  which  now  I  read 
to  you  is  authentic  and  from  a  source  in  all  respects  reliable: 

"  He  was  at  Fort  Benton,  waiting  for  the  arms  the  Government  sent  up. 
He  arrived  there  on  the  first  day  of  July,  having  ridden  thirty  miles  on 
horseback  in  the  hot  sun  that  day.  He  spent  the  afternoon  in  conversation 
and  letter-writing,  and  retired  early  to  his  berth  on  board  the  steamboat  G. 
A.  Thompson.  There  was  no  railing  on  the  guards  opposite  his  stateroom 
door,  it  having  been  broken  off  in  some  way.  About  10  o'clock  at  night 
he  went  on  the  guards.  Here,  it  is  supposed,  he  stumbled  on  a  coil  of 
rope,  lost  his  balance,  and  was  precipitated  over  the  side  of  the  boat.  The 
river  is  greatly  swollen,  and  the  current  is  so  strong  that  the  best  swimmer 
has  no  chance  in  it.  It  is  stated  that  he  called  for  help,  when  the  dock 
hands  ran  with  their  lights  and  saw  him  floating  away.  There  was  no 
boat  ready.  Everything  appears  to  have  been  confusion  and  excitement.  I 
have  received  a  charming  letter  that  he  wrote  to  me,  late  that  afternoon 
(his  last  on  earth),  telling  me  that  he  hoped  to  start  for  home  by  the  last 
of  the  week.  *  *  A  gentleman  who  was  in  his  company  for  over  an 
hour  late  in  the  afterooon,  just  before  the  accident  occurred,  has  informed 
me  of  most  of  the  circumstances  of  his  last  hours  in  this  life,  as  I  state 
them  to  you." 

So  he  died.  "Would  that  he  had  died  on  the  battlefield."  I  think  I 
hear  some  friend  say  —  Would  that  he  had  fallen  there,  with  the  flag 
he  loved  waving  over  him  and  the  shout  of  triumph  ringing  in  his 
ears;  would  that  his  grave  were  on  some  Irish  hill-side,  with  the 
green  turf  above  him."  No;  God  knows  best  how  and  where,  and 
when  we  are  to  die.  His  will  be  done!  But  Meagher  has  bequeathed 
his  memory  to  us  to  guard  it  and  save  it  from  evil  tongues  that  respect 
the  majesty  of  death.  What  matter  to  him  now  whether  men  praise  or 
blame?  The  whole  world's  censure  could  not  hurt  him  now.  But  for  us, 
the  friends  who  are  left  behird;  for  you,  his  companions  in  arms,  for  me, 
who  was  the  friend  of  his  youth,  and  who  have  loved  him  ever;  for  the 
sake  of  those  who  are  nearer  and  dearer  to  him,  of  whpse  grief  I  cannot 
bring  myself  to  speak;  of  his  father,  his  brother,  of  his  son,  on  whose 
face  he  never  looked. 

For  the  sake,  more  than  all,  of  that  noble  lady  whose  enduring  love 
was  the  pride  and  blessing  of  his  life;  for  all  this  we  do  honor  to  his 
memory,  and  strive  to  weave,  as  it  were,  this  poor  chaplet  of  flowers  over 
his  grave.  His  faults  lie  gently  on  him.  For  he  had  faults,  as  all  of  us 
have.  But  he  had  virtues,  too,  in  whose  light  his  errors  were  unseen  and 
forgotten.  In  his  youth  he  loved  the  land  of  his  birth,  and  freely  gave 
all  he  had  to  give,  even  his  life,  to  save  her  and  do  her  honor.  He  never 
forgot  her.  He  never  said  a  word  that  was  not  meant  to  help  her  and 
raise  her.  Some  things  he  did  say  from  time  to  time  that  I  did  not 
agree  with,  that  seemed  to  me  hasty,  passionate,  unjust.  When  men  speak 
much  and  often  they  cannot  help  sometimes  speaking  wrong.  But  he  said 


APPENDIX 


always  what  he  thought;  he  never  uttered  a  word  that  was  unmanly  or 
untrue  to  the  cause  that  was  the  darling  of  his  youth.  In  Ireland,  in 
America,  he  invited  no  man  to  any  danger  that  he  was  not  ready  to  share. 
Never  forget  this;  he  gave  all,  lost  all,  for  the  land  of  his  birth.  He 
risked  all  for  the  land  of  his  adoption,  was  her  true  and  loyal  soldier,  and 
in  the  end  died  in  her  service.  For  these  things,  either  in  Ireland  or 
in  America  he  will  not  soon  be  forgotten,  and  the  grateful  instincts  of  two 
peoples  will  do  him  justice  and  cherish  his  money  in  their  heart  of  hearts. 
Arid  so  old  friend  farewell.  If  it  be,  as  we  of  the  ancient  faith  are  taught 
to  believe,  that  the  highest  heavens  are  joined  to  this  earth  by  a  mystic 
chain  cf  sympathy  of  which  the  links  are  prayers  and  blessings  that  ascend 
and  descend,  keeping  ever  the  sacred  communion  unbroken  and  eternal.  If 
this  fervent  prayer  on  earth  can  reach  the  throne  of  God,  the  friend  of  my 
youth  shall  never  be  forgotten  there.  His  battle  of  life  is  fought.  His 
work  is  done;  his  hour  of  repose  is  come,  and  love  can  utter  no  fonder 
aspiration  than  that  which  was  chanted  in  the  sad  ceremonies  this  morning. 
May  he  rest  in  peace.  Amen." 


CAPTAIN    PATEICK    JOSEPH    CONDON    OF    THE    IRISH    BRIGADE.— 
ON  THE   CIRCUMSTANCES  OF   GENERAL  MEAGHER'S  DEATH. 

From  Captain  P.  J.  Condon,  of  the  Irish  Brigade,  one  of  General 
!M>:igher's  most  esteemed  and  trusted  friends,  I  have  received  the  following 
authentic  particulars  of  his  beloved  commander's  death : 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  Feb.  16,  1892. 
Michael   Cavanagh,  Esqr.,    Washington.  D.   O. 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND  :  '  Your  request  asking  for  what  I  know  of  the  death 
of  Gen.  Thomas  Francis  Meagher  to  embody  in  his  biography  now  being 
prepared  by  you,  is  herewith  given  partly  from  data  preserved  and  in  part 
memorized :  Having  been  escorted  from  Cork  jail  by  a  large  force  (32  all  told) 
of  armed  detectives  on  the  Fourth  day  of  July,  1867,  and  placed  on  board  the 
S.  S.  City  of  Paris,  at  Queenstown  harbor,  for  New  York,  and  arriving  in 
the  latter  harbor  on  the  following  13th,  the  first  intelligence  of  our  beloved 
general's  death  was  imparted  to  me  on  board  the  steamer,  in  the  harbor, 
by  my  old  friend,  Gen.  Murray,  the  custom-house  boarding  officer.  That 
morning's  NEW  YORK  HERALD,  which  he  gave  me,  contained  the  first  pub 
lic  announcement  of  the  sad  event. 

The  subsequent  assembling,  in  mid-August,  of  the  surviving  officers  of 
the  Irish  Brigade,  under  whose  auspices  the  requiem  mass  at  St.  Francis 
Xavier  Church,  Sixteenth  Street,  and  the  brilliant  memorial  oration  by  his 
early  friend  and  compatriot,  Richard  O'Gorman,  Esqr.,  at  the  Cooper  Union, 
are  historical  features  of  the  time  and  occasion  needing,  now,  no  comment 
from  me. 

On  the  assembling  of  the  officers,  after  the  solemn  and  touching  cerp- 
monies  were  over,  1  had  the  unexpected  honor  of  being  chosen  by  my 


12  AFFEMDIX. 


brother  officers  as  First  President  of  the  Irish  Brigade  Officers'  Association,  an 
organization,  I  am  proud  to  say,  which  has  kept  up  to  the  present  day  the 
noble  expectations  of  its  founders  and  members,  in  fostering  fraternal  bonds 
formed  and  cemented  through  the  gloom  and  the  glory  of  the  bivouac  and  the 
battlefield:  Benevolence  to  the  needy  widows  and  orphans  of  departed  com 
rades;  and  that  undying  love  of  patriotism  which  is  ever  preserved  in  the 
most  select  chamber  of  the  Celtic  heart. 

In  the  fall  of  1868,  I  was  engaged  by  Dr.  Durant,  vice-president  of  the 
Union  Pacific  railroad,  to  go  to  Omaha,  Nebraska,  and  take  charge  of  the 
stone  work  of  the  celebrated  bridge  at  that  point  across  the  Missouri. 
While  there  I  accidentally  formed  the  acquaintance  of  the  identical  soldier 
who  was  on  sentry  duty  on  board  the  vessel,  from  the  deck  of  which  Gen 
eral  Meagher  fell  into  the  muddy,  turbulent,  mid-night  waters  of  the  Mis 
souri  at  Benton. 

His  discription  of  the  calamity  was  so  graphic  and  truthful  that  I 
brought  him  before  a  magistrate  the  next  morning,  where  he  made  affidavit 
to  the  facts.  That  affidavit,  together  with  other  testimony  of  the  proprietor 
of  the  Indian  trading  post  at  Benton,  where  I  visited  soon  after,  the  cap 
tain  of  the  vessel  and  the  pilot  who  accompanied  Gen.  Meagher  to  his 
stateroom  on  the  boat,  I  forwarded  to  Captain  Lyons,  editor  New  York 
Herald  at  the  time,  and  who,  I  understood,  was  then  writing  the  life  of  the 
general. 

The  plain  facts  of  the  case  are  these:  General  Meagher  had  been  ailing 
for  some  three  days  with  a  severe  attack  of  diarrhoea,  commonly  known  as 
summer  complaint. 

He  went  ashore  on  the  levee  and  struggled  to  the  log  house,  or  trad 
ing  post,  where  he  was  accommodated  with  a  seat  in  a  back  room  by  the 
proprietor.  He  remained  here  for  several  hours  resting  his  head  on  his 
hands,  placed  on  a  small  table  in  front  of  him.  Frequently  he  had  to 
hasten  from  this  position  to  the  woods  or  "brush"  in  the  rear,  where  the 
violence  of  the  disorder  assailed  him.  The  proprietor  learning  his  distress 
urged  him  to  take  the  only  remedy  in  his  power  to  offer,  a  glass  of  black 
berry  wine.  This  was  repeated  three  times  during  his  long  and  weakning 
agony  at  the  tradjng  post,  after  which,  towards  nightfall,  he  was  conducted 
to  the  boat  and  retired  to  his  stateroom,  or  rather  the  pilot's  stateroom, 
which  was  kindly  given  up  to  him. 

The  sentry's  account  (sworn  to)  was  substantially  as  follows :  While  on 
duty  during  the  night,  pacing  the  deck,  I  heard  a  noise  stern-ward;  on 
looking  in  that  direction  I  saw  somebody  moving  in  white  clothing  (under 
clothes)  toward  the  left  rear  of  the  stern,  where  I  knew  the  temporary 
accommodation  place  of  the  vessel  was.  Of  course  I  about  faced  and 
marched  the  other  way,  thinking  some  one  of  the  officers  had  a  "  short 
call,"  and  re-pacing  my  round  about  mid-way,  I  heard  a  shout  and  then  a 
splash  —  that  was  all.  I  shouted  "man  overboard."  In  a  moment  the  deck 
was  alive;  floating  life  buoys  were  flung  out  —  boats  and  lights  on  the 
•water.  The  recent  Indian  depredations  caused  us  to  be  fully  on  the  alert 
and  prepared  for  anything  sudden;  but  all  to  no  purpose. 


APPENDIX 


The  Missouri  at  this  point,  Benton,  has  a  current  of  nine  miles  per 
hour  in  ordinary  times  —  faster,  but  seldom  slower  at  other  times. 

The  accommodation,  or  want  of  accommodation,  on  Missouri  boats  at 
that  time,  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  is  well  known  to  all  who  have 
enjoyed  or  suffered  a  trip  up  its  toilsome,  treacherous  sand-bar  waters,  or 
down  its  whirling,  snag-bumping  rapids;  it  is  easy  to  conceive  how  practiced 
in  acrobatic  feats  the  individual  must  be  in  keeping  his  "sea  legs"  on  a 
geometrical  principle  "the  wider  the  base  the  firmer  the  structure"  under 
such  circumstances;  and  little  doubt  that  this  rude  style  of  accommoda 
tion  at  the  particular  call  of  strained  nature  was  the  direct  cause  of  the 
untoward  circumstance  of  the  sad  ending  of  General  Meagher — a  man  on 
whose  brow  the  stamp  of  remarkable  genius  was  indellibly  impressed; 
whose  young  life  gave  promise  of  grand  achievements  in  the  years  to  come; 
and  whose  after  life,  up  to  his  untimely  and  mournful  death,  furnishes  the 
student  of  history,  the  soldier  and  true  patriot,  an  example  worthy  to  be 
imitated  by  future  generations  and  all  nations  who  admire  brilliant  expres 
sion  of  thought,  personal  bravery,  and  that  love  of  country  which  springs 
spontaneously  from  the  very  core  of  a  noble  and  fearless  heart. 

Peace  to  thy  ashes !       O !   grand  and  sublime  Meagher ! 

Very  truly   yours,  P.   J.    CONDON. 


THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAGHER. 
BY  TIRIA.  —  (JAMES  J.  BOURKE.) 

As  rolls  Montana's  tideless  wave, 

Far  westward  out  where  sinks  the  sun, 
It  sweeps  above  a  nameless  grave 
"Whore   sleeps  a  Tribune  bright    and  brave; 

A   soldier  whose  campaigning's  done  — 
A   soldier  on  whose  conquering   sword 

Both  gods   and   men  might  look   with  pride; 
An  orator  whose    lightning  word 
Cculd  flash   like  meteor  of  the  Lord  — 

Who   loving  lived  and  loving  died. 

The  regal  sun,   the  watching   stars, 

The  moon  when  in  its  rounded  crest, 
Fling  forth  in  rays   of   slanting  bars 
Deep   through  the  rush  of  watery   wars 

A  cross   of   silver  o'er  his   breast, 
Down   where  his  whitening   bones  are   strewn 

Beneath  the  river's  ceaseless  roll; 
And   sobbing  winds  that   night  or  noon, 
His  wailing  mourners  hymn  their  tune, 

And   sigh  soft  dirges  for  his   soul. 

Full   many  a   stately   galley   speeds 
in   gleam   of  glory  o'er  the  place, 

Where,  far  below   the  throbbing  reeds 

And   shrouded  by  the  water  weeds. 
Lies  stark  his  pa'e,  uncoffined  face; 

And  travellers  list  with   bated  breath 
While  pilots  tell  the  tale  of  doom  — 


14  APPENDIX. 


How  he  who  wore  the  victor's  wreath 
Sank  battling  here  with  night  and  death, 
And  found  an  unannointed  tomb. 

But,   ah,  no  trophy  crowns  the  spot 

Where  cold  and  pulseless   wastes  the  heart 
That   dared  of  yore,   when  youth  was  hot, 
The  hangman's  rope,   the  felon's  lot, 

To  act  for  Eire  a  true  man's  part ; 
The  waters   seethe  with  hurrying  dread 

Above  the  dull  and  lampless  brain, 
The  tongue  of  fire  is  mute  and  dead. 
And   sands  are  round  the  God-like  head, 

And  all   but  prayer  for  him  is  vain. 

Yet  had  he,  when  his  sands  were  run, 

Been  laid  to  sleep  in  hallowed  clay, 
The  land  for  whom  his  work  was  done, 
Beneath  whose  flag  he'd  fought  and   won 

Would  strew  his  grave  with  flowers  to-day, 
The  marble  pile  they'd  upward  rear 

Till   flame-like  it  would  flaunt  the   skies, 
And  many  a  broken  lance  and  spear 
They'd   place  around  the  warrior's   bier 

And  shattered  drum  and   banner-prize. 

They  mourn  him  in  the  land  he  loved, 

His  priceless  worth,  his  conquering  arm, 
They  miss  him  where  in  grace  he  moved  — 
For  camp  and  council  both  have  proved 

His  master  mind  to  guide  or  charm. 
And  many  a  tale  will  yet  be  told, 

By  camping  fires  in  future  wars, 
Of  him  who  with  his  clansmen  bold 
Shook  out  the  old  green  banners  fold 

To  fight  beneath  the  Stripes  and  Stars. 

And   hosts   will  whisper  listening  guests 

The  Southern  foeman's  wild  refrain, 
When  glared  he  o'er  the  green-plumed  crests, 
And   sprigs  of  green  on  Irish  breasts  — 

"  Here  comes  that  damned  Green  Flag  again!" 
And  hearts  will  fire  and  pulses  bound 

At  thoughts  of  Antietam's   day; 
When  hemm'd  by  fire  and  foemau  round, 
The  Irish  stormed  the  vantage  ground  — 

And  claimed  the  glory  of  the  fray. 

And  Fredericksburg's  hard  foughten  field, 

Where  men  were  mown  like  autumn  grain, 
Shall  prove,  though  oft  it  broke  and  reeled  — 
That  Irish  valor  could  not  yield, 

Though  wheel-deep  lay  the  mangled  slain. 
What  time  that  Meagher  with  glance  of  pride, 

Points  out  the  range  of  belching  guns  — 
"Go  take  them  now,"  he  laughing  cried; 
And  while  the  storm  of  death  rung  wide, 

They  straight  obeyed  like  dttteous  sons. 

Oh,   these  are  memories  that  evoke 

The  noblest  traits  that  stamp  oar  race, 


APPENDIX.  )& 


For  through  the  rift   of  fire  and   smoke, 
Where  wild  the  Irish  slogan   broke, 

When  foe  met  foeman  face  to  face, 
We  know  that  each  day's   battle  close 

Though  fierce  and   bloody'd  been  the   fight, 
Saw   wounded   soldiers   tend  the  foes, 
Heard  pitying  words  that  heavenward  rose, 

And  prayers  above  the  dead  at  night. 

But   we,   with  whom   the  chieftan  grew 

Who  proudly  led  this   bold  brigade, 
Whose  voice,   whose  form,   whose  face  we  knew, 
Whose  fiery  soul,   whose  courage  true, 

Are  with  us  dreams  that  will   not  fade; 
Who've  heard  his  glorious   burning  words, 

Like  Him  the  Roman  chief  of  old, 
Who  bade  the  slaves  gird  on  their  swords, 
And   smite  to  doom  their  tyrant  lords, 

And  Heaven  would  aye  them  guiltless  hold. 

And  we  within  the  circling   bound 

Of  this  proud  city  of  the   Gael, 
The  rebel  Emmet's   camping  ground, 
The   scene  of  Edward's  martyr  fvvouud, 

The  throbbing  heart   of  Innisfail  — 
Shall  we  erect  no   storied  urn. 

Or  marble   statue  carven  fair, 
To  him  whose  God-like  words  could  burn, 
Who  never  more  may  now  return, 

Like  wearied  child  her  breast  to  share. 

Oh,  pile  the  stone  and  heap  the  cairn, 

And  carve  the  likeness  of  his  face, 
And  twine  at  foot  the  oak  and  fern, 
That  coming  nations  yet  may  learn 

He  lived  the  Isaiah  of  our  race. 
But  if  you'd  fill  your  glorious  part, 

And 'glance  upon  your  work  with  pride, 
And  image  true  of  Meagher  impart, 
Oh,   place  a  shamrock  o'er  his  heart  — 

For  it  he  lived,  for  it  he  died! 

GENERAL  MEAGHER'S  STAFF. 

With  the  exception  of  Captain  McCoy,  A.  A.  G.,  concerning  whom  I 
have  already  given  all  the  information  available,  the  officers  composing  General 
Meagher's  staff  deserve  a  more  extended  notice  than  they  have  received  in 
the  foregoing  portion  of  this  work;  this  I  propose  giving  here  —  in  so  far 
as  it  relates  to  those  gentlemen  with  whom  I  was  personally  and  intimately 
acquainted. 

CAPTAIN  JOHN  GOSSON. 

From  the  general-commanding  down  no  officer  in  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  was  better  known  personally  and  by  reputation  than  Captain 
"Jack  Gosson,"  first  aide  camp  to  General  Meagher.  A  Galway  man  him 
self,  he  was  the  son  of  John  Gosson,  Esq,,  formerly  of  Swords  County, 
Dublin.  A  "born  soldier,"  but  with  no  predilections  for  the  British  Army, 


16  APPENDIX. 


he  entered  the  Austrian  service  as  lieutenant,  and  served  under  that  dis 
tinguished  scion  of  the  old  Catholic  Irish  stock  —  General  Count  Nugent,  in 
Syria,  r  Subsequently,  through  the  count's  recommendation,  he  received  a 
commission  in  the  Seventh  Hussars  of  Austria  —  a  Hungarian  regiment,  com 
manded  by  Prince  Frederick  Lichensteiu.  After  some  year's  service,  lie 
returned  to  Ireland  the  very  beau  ideal  of  a,  handsome,  dashing  soldier,  and, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  he  became  a  general  favorite  with  the  discriminating 
young  ladies  of  his  acquaintance.  Amongst  the  most  impressionable  of 
these  romantic  damsels  was  a  splendid-looking,  black-eyed  brunette  —  the 
daughter  of  an  English  baronet,  who  was  also  an  extensive  Irish  land 
holder.  This  gentleman  did  not  look  with  favor  on  the  young  soldier's 
attentions  to  his  handsome  daughter  —  but  "Jack''  asked  no  favors  from 
him.  Neither  did  he  run  away  with  the  girl ;  ( running  away  from  friend 
or  foe  was  never  in  his  line),  but  he  won  her  for  all  that  —  in  true  Irish 
style,  too. 

One  morning,  at  breakfast,  the  pompous  old  gentleman  said  to  his 
daughter:  "My  dear,  I  wish  you  would  discourage  any  attentions  from  this 
Lieutenant  Gosson.  He  is  a  man  whom  I  know  only  as  a  soldier  of  fortune 
and  a  Papist." 

With  charming  frankness  the  young  lady  replied :  "  I  am  so  sorry,  papa, 
that  you  didn't  speak  of  it  sooner  —  for  I  was  married  to  Lieutenant  Gosson 
this  morning." 

It  may  well  be  supposed  that,  thenceforth,  neither  of  the  young  people 
stood  very  high  in  the  scandalized  aristocrat's  good  graces. 

The  advent  of  the  war  found  Lieutenant  Gosson  in  America,  and  he, 
naturally,  was  attracted  to  Meagher's  side  —  and  kept  his  place  there  through 
the  war.  There  was  much  in  common  between  their  genuine  Irish  natures ; 
both  were  brave,  high-minded,  dashing  soldiers,  thorough  gentlemen  in  word 
and  deed;  courteous  and  kindly  to  stranger  and  friend,  and  both  inimitable 
as  story  tellers  when  in  congenial  society.  Gosson  was  devoted  to  Meagher; 
and  Meagher  appreciated  his  fidelity  and  his  sterling  worth,  his  chivalry, 
and  scorn  of  all  that  was  base  or  mean.  An  officer  of  the  L^nited  States 
Regular  Army  said  truly  and  well  of  him,  that,  "gallant  and  dashing  sol 
dier  as  he  was,  and  there  was  no  finer  in  the  army,  it  was,  after  all,  his 
manners,  his  dress,  his  speech,  his  history  —  in  a  word  —  Gossou,  the  man 
that  justified  in  his  single  person,  all  the  O'Malleys  and  Hintons  and  Lor- 
requers  that  Lever  has  drawn.  The  crowning  glory  was  Jack's  appear 
ance  on  grand  occasions  in  full  military  figure  —  gold-laced  cap  and  jacket, 
a  broad  gold-embroidered  cross-belt  clasped  with  a  lion's  head,  supporting  an 
enameled  leather  cartridge  box,  a  saber-tasche  of  the  same  material  hanging 
by  long  slings,  so  as  to  just  clear  the  top  of  a  neat  fitting  and  polished 
Hessian  boot.  He  certainly  looked  and  was  the  ideal  aide-de-camp.'' 

[  It  was  in  the  above  described  brilliant  uniform  that  Captain  Gosson 
appeared  one  night  in  a  box  at  the  theatre  in  Washington  and  created  a 
sensation  which,  of  its  kind,  was  never  equalled  in  that  temple  of  Terpsi 
chore. 

It  was  the  week  following  the  battle  of  Antietam  and  the  National 
Capital  was  jubilant  over  the  great  Union  victory.  The  hotels  were 


APPENDIX  17 


crowded  with  officers,  who,  in  their  brief  and  well-earned  furloughs,  enjoyed 
life  with  a  zrsr  unknown  to  those  who  never  risked  it  at  the  game  of  war. 
All  places  of  public  amusement  were  in  full  blast,  crowded  from  pit  to 
galleries. 

On  the  night  in  question  Mrs.  "Wood,  then  a  most  popular  actress,  was 
fascinating  the  immense  audience  by  her  superb  rendering  of  a  patriotic 
song —  into  which  she  —  with  a  bewitching  glance  at  the  splendid  looking- 
soldier  gazing  admiringly  from  the  box  above  her.  —  interpolated  a  graceful 
compliment  to  the  country's  defenders  —  the  "Bold  Soldier  Boys!"  Thc= 
house  applauded  most  enthusiastically  and  broke  out  into  ringing  cheer* 
when  the  conspicuously  handsome  cavalier  so  favored  by  the  beautiful  min- 
srrel.  rose  to  his  full  height,  and  with  his  hand  on  bis  heart,  bowed  his 
thanks  to  the  charmer.  While  on  his  feet  our  hero  noticed  in  the  box 
beneath  him  a  poitly  bold-headed  old  gentleman  dangling  tremulously  in 
his  fat  hand  a  beautiful  bouquet  of  the  rarest  flowers.  Stimulated  by 
innate  gallantry,  combined  with  the  irrepressible  spirit  of  deviltry  so  char 
acteristic  of  his  daring  impulsive  nature,  Jack  drew  his  sword,  and  with  its 
point  gently  lifted  the  bouquet  and  tipped  it  to  the  lady's  feet,  amid 
uproarous  cheers  and  laughter. 

The  astonished  old  gentleman  turned  up  his  purple-hued  face  to  his  de- 
spoiler,  and,  in  a  voice  half-choked  with  rage,  gasped  out: — 

"Who    are    you,    sir!       How   dare    you'?"  "Shut  up!    you  cantake- 

rous  old  corner,"  shouted  Jack,  "or  I'll  jump  down  your  throat  —  boots, 
spurs  and  all,  by  -  —  !  The  interlocutor  suddenly  collapsed.  A  storm  of 
commingled  cheers  and  laughter  reverberated  through  the  house  with,  here 
and  there,  a  cry  of  "  shame ! "  from  some  stickler  for  the  "  proprieties." 
Our  hero  stood  gazing  placi.lly  on  the  sea  of  excited  faces  until  the  uproar 
had  ceased,  and  then,  in  cool  and  measured  tones,  said:  — 

"  Gentlemen,  I  am  a  soldier  of  the  'Irish  Brigade!'  I  am  Captain 
Jack  GossOn,  of  General  Meagher's  staff.  If,  in  my  response  to  a  lady's 
appeal,  I  have  given  offence  to  any  gentleman  here,  I  will  be  found  at 
"Williard's  Hotel  to-morrow  ready  to  give  him  adequate  satisfaction." 

There  was  no  dissenting  interruption  to  the  cheering  this  time;  neither 
was  there  any  seekers  for  "satisfaction"  calling  at  Williard's  next  day.] 

CAPTAIN  JOHN  D.  HEARN. 

CAPTAIN  JOHN  D.  HEARN  was  in  many  characteristics  a  different  man 
from  his  brother  aide-de-camp,  Captain  Gosson.  Alike  in  personal  devotion 
to  their  chief,  and  in  fealty  to  the-  National  Flag,  Hearn's  natural  tem 
perament  was  as  cool  and  imperturbable  as  Gosson's  was  exuberant  and  mer 
curial.  There  was  but  little  appearance  of  that  impulsive  dash  in  the  one 
which  was  so  conspicuous  among  the  soldierly  attributes  of  the  other,  but 
in  the  resolute  determination  to  do  his  duty  to  the  end,  no  matter  what 
impediments  barred  the  way,  Captain  II earn  had  few,  if  any,  superiors  in 
the  army.  He  was  a  man  of  splendid  physical  proportions  —  over  six  feet 
in  height,  and  straight  as  a  pike-staff.  He  was  one  of  the  most  athletic 
men  in  his  native  country  ("Waterf ord) ,  and  was  credited  with  jumping  over 


18  APPENDIX. 


twenty-one  feet  —  backwards  and  forwards  —  on  a  dead  level.  He  came  of  a 
well  to  do  and  highly  esteemed  family,  who  resided  at  a  place  called 
Shanikill,  near  Dungarvan.  He  was  an  intelligent',  thoughtful  and  high- 
principle  1  man,  a  trusty  comrade  and  earnest,  practical  Irish  revolutionist 
—  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  organization  of  '"49"  in  his  district.  He  was 
arrested,  on  suspicion,  at  the  time,  hut  after  some  months'  imprisonment  iu 
Waterford  jail,  was  discharged  without  trial.  He  came  to  America  in  1850, 
and  .was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  "Mitchell  Light  Guards,''  of  which 
•Joseph  Brenan  was  captain.  He  subsequently  joined  the  Fenian  Brother 
hood,  and  when  John  O'Mahony  returned  on  his  perilous  mission  to  Ireland 
in  the  winter  of  1860,  he  se.ected  John  D.  Hearn  as  his  companion—for 
his  rare  qualifications  of  courage,  prudence,  integrity,  and  self-sacrificing 
patriotism.  John  D.  Hearn  remained  in  Liverpool  after  O'Mahony's  return 
to  America;  but  on  his  learning  that  Meagher  was  organizing  the  Irish 
Brigade,  he  resigned  a  lucrative  position  in  a  mercantile  establishment,  and 
came  out  to  take  his  stand  beside  his  gifted  countryman.  He  served  in  the 
Brigade,  on  General  Meagher's  staft',  till  the  retreat  to  Harrison's  Landing. 
Subsequently  he  became  attached  to  the  ".Irish  Legion,"  as  captain  iu  the 
1 14th  ("Corcoran  Zouaves");  was  taken  prisoner  at  Ream's  Station  in 
A-igust,  1864,  and  in  1865  was  invited  by  General  Meagher  to  accompany 
him  in  an  official  position  to  Montana,  but  declined,  as  he  was  then  after 
volunteering  to  proceed  to  Ireland  with  his  brother  Fenians.  On  his  return 
in  18(56,  he  rejoined  Meagher  in  Montana,  where,  I  believe,  he  is  at  the 
present  time,  (1892.) 

CAPTAIN  JAMES  B.  TURNER. — ( "  GALLOWGLASS."  ) 

In  addition  to  his  official  duties  as  aide-de-camp,  this  gallant  young 
officer  rendered  most  efficient  service  to  the  Irish  Brigade  by  voluntarily  con 
stituting  himself  its  chief  chronicler.  His  correspondence  in  the  7mA- 
Amencan,  from  the  seat  of  war,  constituted  the  most  graphic  and  interesting 
accoun',  of  the  progress  of  events  at  the  time,  and  to  the  historian,  who 
would  not  limit  his  sources  of  information  to  the  dry,  official  reports  of 
the  War  Department,  these  letters,  recording  as  they  do  the  inner  life  of 
the  camp,  its  privations  and  its  festivities  —  the  incidents  transpiring  on  the 
march,  In  the  field,  or  in  the  hospital  —  are  invaluable.  He  was  well  aware 
of  the  worth  of  such  details  of  the  private  soldier's  heroism  —  as  the  fol 
lowing  extract  from  his  correspondence  after  the  disastrous  battle  of  Fred- 
erickslmrgh  will  show.  In  referring  to  a  letter  from  a  private  soldier 
giving  the  history  of  its  company's,  experience  in  the  fight  —  which  he 
embodied  in  his  report  —  he  says :  — 

"  Such  is  the  simple  chronicle  of  a  brave  company's  brave  day's  work, 
told  by  as  gallant  a  young  soldier  as  there  is  in  the  Brigade.  Reading  it 
and  knowing  how  true  it  is,  having  observed  all  the  men  mentioned  in  it  in 
battle  often  before,  on  the  march,  in  the  bivouac  and  the  camp,  one's  only 
regret  is,  that  the  deeds  of  the  brave  rank  and  file  of  the  other  companies 
and  regiments  of  the  Brigade  cannot  be  fully  ^ind  particularly  set  forth. 
The  lives  of  the  men  of  the  Brigade  would  form  one  of  the  brightest 


APPENDIX.  19 


biographies  of  heroism.  So  much  individual  pluck,  courage,  dash,  enthusi 
asm  and  valor,  has  rarely  in  any  age  been  marshalled  together  for  the  fight. 
After  all  it  is  some  consolation  to  know,  even  although  the  Brigade  is 
melting  by  degrees  away,  that  there  was  in  our  times  so  much  that  was 
proud,  noble  and  invincible  among  our  people  on  this  continent.  It  will 
be  a  glorious  heritage  to  leave  to  your  posted  y  the  record  of  your  valor, 
and  one  of  the  proudest  assertions  that  can  be  made  by  any  Irishman  of 
our  day,  will  be  that  he,  too,  was.  a  member  of  the  Irish  Brigade  that 
fought  for  the  American  Republic." 

"  GALLOWGLASS." 

Would  the  time  ever  arrive  when  adequate  justice  can  be  rendered  to 
the  memory  of  those  heroic  representatives  of  a  heroic  race,  the  concluding 
paragraph  of  the  above  extract  might  fittingly  be  engraved  on  the  u  Mem 
orial  Stone"'  of  the  writer  —  the  gentle-hearted,  gallant  and  gifted  ''His 
torian  of  the  Irish  Brigade." — Captain  James  B.  Turner. 

"A   Saxon  Churl  Ursurps  the  Lion's  Hide." 

MAJOR   (?)   WARRINGTOX. 

While  the  Irish  Brigade,  was  being  recruited  in  the  Autumn  of  1861,  an 
imposing-looking  gentleman  of  middle  age  and  insinuating  address,  presented 
himself  at  headquarters.  He  introduced  himself  to  Meagher  as  Major 
Warriugton  —  formerly  of  the  British  Army,  but  now  desirous  of  offering 
his  sword  and  military  experience  to  the  service  of  the  Republic,  and,  by 
perference,  in  connection  with  the  Irish  Brigade. 

Meagher  received  him  courteously,  accepted  his  proffered  services  in  good 
faith,  ami,  ere  long,  the  aristocratic-looking  Englishman  became  a  couspio- 
uous  appendage  to  the  headquarters  on  Broadway  —  where  he  made  himself 
'•generally  useful"  in  the  routine  work  of  the  office,  and  in  varying  its 
more  prosaic  occupations  by  recounting  some  interesting  episodes  of  his  pre 
vious  history  —  which -his  attentive  auditors  perfectly  understood  were  to  be 
taken  with  a  liberal  allowance  of  "  salt." 

When,  eventually,  the  Brigade  left  New  York  for  the  front,  Major 
Warringtou  was  left  behind  at  headquarters  with  instructions  to  superintend 
the  forwarding  of  additional  recruits,  etc.  However,  after  Meagher  took 
charge  of  the  Brigade  at  Camp  California,  he  reported  there  for  duty,  and 
was  assigned  a  place  on  the  t;  volunteer  staff.''  Here  he  managed  to  main 
tain  his  assumed  character  unquestioned  while  the  army  was  in  process  of 
organization,  under  General  Mcdellan. 

When  the  campaign  opened,  however,  and  the  order  to  advance  towards 
r.ichinonl  was  issued,  he  felt  the  crisis  of  his  life  approaching.  How  he 
-cnt  ihr.ugh  the  ordeal  I'll  leave  to  be  told  by  Captain  Field  of  the  4th 
U.  S.  Artillery  — in  his  graphic  "  Reminisceuses  of  the  Irish  Brigade." 

"  EXIT  A  SOLDIER  OF  FORTUNE.  " 

"  Wlii'e  lying  in  the  entrenchments  at  Fair  Oaks,  an  ornamental  appendage 
to  the  brigade  staff  faded  from  view.  Major  Warrington  was  an  eminently 


20  APPENDIX. 


aristocratic  gentleman,  with  a  fine  haughty  profile,  a  fresh  complexion, 
slightly  reddened  by  good  cheer,  distinctly  suggesting  old  port,  hair  and 
moustache  beautifully  silvered,  manners  courtly,  with  just  a  shade  of  arro 
gance,  in  keeping  with  the  report  which  was  current  and  not  disbelieved, 
that  he  was  the  son  of  George  the  Fourth.  (General  Meagher  told  me  he 
was  inclined  to  believe  it.)  He  was  a  sort  of  volunteer  aide,,  belonged  to 
nothing  that  we  knew  of,  and  justified  his  status  by  doing  no-thing.  Major 
Cavanagh  ( now  the  gallant  veteran  commanding  the  historical  Sixty-ninth), 
was  commanding  the  picket-line,  and  firing  between  the  opposing  pickets 
suddenly  began.  General  Meagher  sent  Warringtou  with  an  order  to  Cav 
anagh,  which  was  not  complied  with.  When  asked  why  he  had  not  obeye  I 
the  instructions,  Cavanagh  replied  that  he  had  received  none.  The  Gone  al 
asked  Major  "VVarrington  if  he  had  delivered  them,  and  the  latter  seeme  1 
inclined  to  evade  the  question,  and  to  shuffle  off  on  Cavanagh  The  responsi 
bility.  The  two  men  were  confronted,  the  scion  of  royalty  and  the  bull 't- 
headed  Irishman,  as  rough  as  a  chestnut-burr,  and  as  brave  as  a  game 
cock.  When  Cavanagh  plainly  intimated  that  Warrington  had  found  the 
bullefs  too  numerous  to  fulfil  his  orders,  the  latter  said,  drawing  up 
proudly. 

'  I   don't   believe  you  know   who   I  am.    sir.' 

'Indeed,'  said  Cavanagh;  '  lrm  not  sure  you  know  yourself.  But  I'm 
told  you  claim  to  be  a  bastard  of  George  the  Fourth.  By  all  accoun  s 
your  father  was  as  dirty  a  blackguard  as  ever  disgraced  a  throne,  and,  if 
he  ever  had  a  son,  I'm  thinking  he'd  be  just  such  a  shirk  and  poltroon  as 
you've  proved  yourself  this  day,  Major  Warrington.' 

"A  few  days  after  it  was  politely  intimate, I  to  the  elderly  swell  that 
his  services  could  be  dispensed  with." 

DOCTOR  LAWRENCE  REYNOLDS.  —  POET-LAUREATE  TO  THE  IRISH 

BRIGADE. 

As  Captain  Turner  was  the  chief  chronicler,  so  Was  Dr.  Reynolds  ch'ef 
bard  of  the  Irish  Brigade.  But  few  officers  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
were  more  familiarly  known  to,  or  more  universally  esteemed  by  their  com 
rades  in  arms  than  the  genial-hearted  surgeon  of  the  63d  Regt.,  N.  Y.  V. 
Skillful  and  experienced  in  his  profession,  a  highly-educated  Irish  gentleman, 
a  versatile  writer,  orator  and  poet,  and  an  earnest,  active  worker  in  the 
cause  of  Irish  nationality  for  over  half  a  century,  he  well  merited  the  re 
spect  of  his  fellow  officers,  and  the  enthusiastic  affection  which  was  accorded 
him  by  his  compatriots  of  the  rank  and  file.  It  was  impossible  for  any 
genuine  Irishman  to  know  -'  Old  Larry!"  ( ns  he  was  endearingly  designated 
by  his  feiiow  countrymen)  and  not  love  him.  lie  was  the  very  personifi 
cation  of  cheerfulness  and  good  nature  —  his  beaming  countenance  —  like  the 
sun  —  diffused  warmth  wherever  it  shone.  Though  he  lived  to  the  age  of 
eighty-four,  yet  his  heart  remained  always  fresh  and  young.  Gifted  by 
niiture  with  an  abundant  fount  of  ready  wit  and  genuine  Irish  humor, 
though  quick  at  repartee,  he  was  sel  loin  sarcastic,  and  never  bitter  in 
his  retorts.  The  victims  of  his  playful  humor  enjoyed  his  jokes  most 
keenly,  for,  in  general,  they  were  among  his  most  intimate  friends. 


APPEXDIX  21 


Dr.  Lawrence  Reynolds  was  born  in  the  city  of  Waterford,  in  the  year 
1804.  He  came  of  an  old  and  highly  respectable  Catholic  family,  and  was 
the  youngest  of  four  brothers.  Having  received  a  classical  education,  and 
being  gifted  from  early  boyhood  with  a  literary  taste  —  he  commenced  his 
public  career  by  engaging  with  his  brothers  in  the  publication  of  a  news 
paper,  but  he  tired  of  the  confinement  of  office  life,  and  his  adventurous  spirit 
led  him  to  England  to  "  seek  his  fortune."  He  applied  his  talents  to  the 
study  of  medicine,  and  having  in  due  time  secured  his  diploma,  he  settled 
down  to  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  the  city  of  Liverpool.  He  was 
highly  popular  with  the  Irish  element  of  that  great  commercial  city,  and 
was  in  a  fair  way  of  realizing  an  independent  fortune  when  the  revolution 
ary  movement  of  :4S  enlisted  his  active  sympathies,  and  as  the  acknowl 
edged  leader  of  his  countrymen  in  Liverpool,  his  practical  patriotism  soon 
made  him  amenable  to  the  law,  and  he,  like  many  other  kindred  spirits  of 
that  period,  had  to  seek  a  new  career  in  the  u  Land  of  the  Free." 

On  his  arrival  in  Xew  York,  he  settled  down  to  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  and  soon  built  up  a  lucrative  business.  But  he  abandoned  it  on 
the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  and  when  the  Irish  Brigade  was  being  raised, 
he  joined  the  63d  Regt.  lie  served  with  the  Brigade  throughout  the  war, 
being  on  duty  in  every  battle  iu  which  it  was  engaged — and  the  list  is  a 
long  and  glorious  one.  When  not  actively  employed  on  the  field,  he  volun 
teered  on  the  Headquarters  Medical  Staff'.  He  was  so  highly  esteemed  by 
General  Hancock,  that,  on  the  recommendation  of  that  distinguished  officer, 
Sergeant  Reynolds,  "for  service  in  the  field,''  was  advanced  to  the  rank  of 
Lieutenant-Colonel. 

But,  notwithstanding  his  onerous  professional  duties,  the  ardent  old 
patriot  still  found  time  to  serve  the  cause  of  his  native  laud.  His  tongue, 
pen  and  purse  were  ever  ready  at  her  service.  In  the  "Officers'  Circle"  of 
the  Fenian  Brotherhood,  no  man  was  more  enthusiastic  or  zealous  than  its 
gray-bearded  old  "treasurer."  His  speeches  infused  his  own  hopeful,  heal 
th  y  energy  into  the  hearts  of  his  hearers,  while  his  spirit-stirring  songs 
scattered  broadcast  through  the  camp,  kept  up  the  sentiment  of  patriotism 
in  the  souls  of  the  susceptible  Celts  of  all  ranks  and  couditons. 

Of  all  his  compatriots  in  the  army,  General  Thomas  A.  Smythe  —  that 
beau  ideal  of  an  Irish  soldier  —  stood  highest  in  his  regard  and  affection. 
His  most  popular  song  was  written  in  indignation  at  the  neglect  of  this 
splendid  soldier's  services — by  the  authorities;  and  it  was  confidently  be- 
li  ved  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  that  it  was  owing  to  old  "Larry's"  scath 
ing  effusion  that  the  political  magnates  were  at  length  shamed  into  doing 
justice  to  the  gallant  colonel  of  the  First  Delaware  Volunteers;  the  hero  of 
thirty-five  battles;  and  for  some  time  in  the  fall  of  1863  and  the  spring  of 
1S64,  commander,  successively,  of  the  Irish  Brigade  and  the  Second  Division, 
Second  Army  Corps. 

[  General  Smythe  fell  while  leading  his  command  at  Five  Forks,  being 
the  last  general-officer  killed  in  the  war  for  the  Union. 

He  was  born  near  Fermoy,  Co.  Cork,  on  Christmas  i^ay,  1832,  and  was 
twenty-two  years  of  age  when  he  emigrated  to  America.] 


22  APPLMDIX. 


"THERE'S  XOT  A   STAR  FOR  YOU,   TOM  SMYTHE." 

(A  song  addressed  to  br.ave  Col.  Thomas  A.  Smythe  of  Wilmington, 
First  I>giment  of  Delaware  Volunteer?,  by  Lawrence  Reynolds,  Surgeon 
Sixty-third  Regiment  Xew  York  Volunteers,  Irish  Brigade.) 

Though   stars  are  falling  very  thick, 

On   many  a  curious   spot : 
And  warriors   rising  very  quick, 

Who  never    heard   a   shot. 
Still,    though  you  periled  limb  and   life, 

And   many   a   tight   went   through. 
And    laurels   won  in  every   strife, 

There's  not   a   star  for  you,   Tom   Smythe, 
There'   not  a  star    for  you ! 

'Tis  true,   when  close  the  hostile  lines, 

The  headlong  charge  you    lead, 
And   your  sword,   glory's   beacon,   shines, 

In  front   of  your   brigade ;  . 

But   you   can't  like  a  courtier  grin, 

Xo  little  work  can  do, 
So  you   perchance  a  ball   may   win ; 

But   there's  not   a   star  for  you,    Tom   Smythe, 
There's  not   a  star  for  you ! 

Whene'er  you  tread  the  crimson   sod, 

Your  form   and   soul   expand : 
In  olden  times   you'd   seem  a  God, 

Not  Hancock   self's  more   grand. 
But   then   your   sword,   a   wily   tongue, 

Far  greater  deeds  can  do ; 
For  while   stars   grace  the  gabby   throng, 

There's  not  a  star  for   you,    Tom   Smythe, 
There's   not   a   star  for  you. 

"No  coward  in  the   ranks   is   seen. 

When   gallant    Smythe   appears, 
Men  kindle  at  his  voice  and   mien, 

And   move  on   with   gay   clie'-rs. 
Smythe's  spirit  moves  the    glowing  mass, 

Deeds   past  their  power   to  do: 
Yet   while   such   things   you   bring  to   pass, 

There's  not   a  star  for  you.   Tom   Smythe, 
There's  not   a  star  for   you ! 

But  by  you  for  no   selfish   cause, 

Is  battle's  flag    unfurled, 
You  fight  to   save  your  glorious   laws, 

To  bless  the  future  world. 
Brave  Hancock  owns  you're  skilled   and   brave, 

The   army    own   it,    too, 
Then  this   proud   feeling  you  must  have 

Is  rank  and   a   star  for  you,   Tom   Smythe, 
Is   rank  and   a  star  for  you! 

Doctor  R-ynolds  died  at  Oswego,  N.   Y.,   on  the  28th   of  April.   1887. 


APPENDIX.  23 


GENERAL  MEAGHER'S  APPEAL   FOR    JUSTICE   TO   THE  IRISH 

BRIGADE. 

"HEADQUARTERS,  IRISH  BRIGADE.  Second  Brigade,  Hancock's 
Division,    Couch's   Corps,    Army   of  the   Potomac, 

Before  Fredericksburg,   Va.,    Feb.    19th,   18G3. 

"  To  the   Honorable,   the   Secretary  of   Wa>'  at   Washinyt'tn  : — 

"SiR —  I  have  the  honor  to  request  that  three   regiments   of  the  Brigade 
I  command  may  be  temporarily  relieved  from  duty   in   the   field. 
"1   make  this  application  for  the  following  reasons:  — 
"The  Brigade  nominally   consists  of  five   regts. 
69th  New   York  Volunteers, 
88th  New  York  Volunteers. 
63d    New   York  Volunteer*, 
HGth  Pennsylvania  Volunteers, 
•28th  Massachusetts  Volunteers. 

"The  aggregate  strength  of  these  five  regiments  is  made  up  of  139  offi 
cers  and  1,058  enlisted  i.  .'ii.  To  this  strength  the  116th  Pa..  Vols.,  (now 
consolidated  into  a  battalion),  and  the  28th  Mass.,  Vols.,  contribute  48  olfi- 
cers  and  527  enlisted  men.  The  other  three  regiments,  therefore,  make  up 
the  balance,  giving  as  their  aggregate  91  officers  and  531  enlisted  men. 

For  duty,   including  pioneers,   drummers,   etc.,  -  .'M3 

On  extra  and  daily  duty,        --------     132 

Sick  and   wounded,  ---------      59 

"The  69th,  SSth  and  G3d  are  the  three  original  old  regiments  of  the 
Brigade.  They  left  the  city  of  Xew  York  in  the  months  of  November  and 
December.  1801,  fully  two  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty  strong,  including 
two  batteries  of  three  officers  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  each.  As 
signed  to  the  divisions  commanded  by  Major-General  Sumner,  these  regi 
ments  entered  immediately  on  active  duty,  being  encamped  near  Edsall's 
Hill,  beyond  Alexandria,  Va.,  until  the  10th  of  March,  when  they  proceeded 
to  Union  Mills,  Manassas  and  Warreuton  Junction. 

"  Returning  ,  to  Alexandria  early  in  April,  they  embarked  for  Ship-point, 
on  the  York  River,  when,  after  several  days  of  laborious  activity  in  the 
commissary  and  quartermaster's  departments  of  the  army,  they  proceeded 
to  the  front,  and  were  engaged  at  once  in  the  operations  for  the  reduction 
of  Yorktown. 

"The  battle  of  Fair  Oaks  was  the  first  battle  in  which  these  regiments 
fought,  and  these  were  the  only  regiments  then  constituting  the  Brigade. 

"  A  fortnight  subsequently  the  Brigade  was  reinforced  by  the  29th  Mass. 
Vols.,  and  thus  reinforced,  the  three  aid  regiments  did  severe  duty  before 
Richmond,  this  <  utv  requiring  of  them  to  defend  the  front  of  the  army  at 
Fair  Oaks,  thro\s  up  extensive  earthworks,  perform  picket  duty  every  third 
day,  support  the  command  of  Major-General  Hooker  on  three  occasions, 
when  he  was  forcibly  pressed  by  the  enemy ;  and.  ultimately,  hastening  to 
the  relief,  and  covering,  in  conjunction  with  the  Brigade,  commanded  by 


24  APPh.NDJX. 


Brigadier-General    French,    the   retreat   of    the  army  corps,    under    Major-Gen 
eral    Fitz-John   Porter,   at   Gaines's   Hill. 

"  On  the  retreat  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  from  before  Richmond, 
the  Brigade,  consisting  of  the  above-mentioned  regiments,  participated  in  the. 
battles  of  Peach  Orchard,  Savage's  Station,  White  Oak  Swamp,  Glendale, 
Malvern  Hill,  and  suffered  severely,  the  loss  of  commissioned  officers  being 
more,  proportionally^,  than  the  loss  of  privates. 

"Whilst  suffering  in  this  way,  and  reduced  to  aa  au-rage  of  three  hun 
dred  men  to  each  regiment,  the  Brigade  arrived  ar  Harrison's  Landing, 
James  River,  and,  although  the  undersigned  was  ordered  by  Major-General 
McClellan  to  proceed  to  New  York  shortly  ai'ter  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
had  reached  the  Landing,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  recruits;  and, 
although  the  Brigadier-General  exercised  all  the  influence  within  his  scope 
to  procure  such  recruits,  the  Brigade  almost  imperceptibly  benelitted  by  its 
temporary  relief  from  duty  in  the  field  and  the  exertions  of  the  under 
signed. 

"Nevertheless,  the  Brigade  most  cheerfully  and  heartily  participated  in 
the  rapid  and  sultry  march  to  Newport  News,  by  way  of  Williamsburg  and 
Yorktown,  and  with  equal  alacrity  and  good  will  proceeded  to  Acquia  Creek, 
and  thence  to  Fal mouth,  Va.,  where  they  were  ordered  by  Major-General 
McClellan  to  report  to  Major-General  Buruside,  in  command  of  the  Federal 
forces  in  front  of  Frederieksburg. 

"Relieved  by  Major-General  Burnsido.  the  Brigade,  still- consisting  of  the 
C9th.  88th  and  G3d  N.  Y.  Vols.,  and  the  29th  Mass.  Vols.,  returned  from 
Falmouth  in  forty-eight  hours  after  they  had  reported  to  General  Burnside, 
and  repaired  to  Alexandria,  whence,  alter  a  halt  of  less  than  eight  hours 
outside  the  city,  they  hurried  to  the  support  of  Major-General  Pope,  then 
engaged  with  the  enemy  on  the  plains  of  Manassas,  resting  not  more  than 
six  hours  in  the  rear  of  Fort  Corcoran,  preparatory  to  their  advance. 

"  On  the  retreat  from  the  plains  of  Manassas,  the  Brigade  formed  a  por 
tion  of  the  rear-guard,  and,  acting  as  such,  experienced  a  good  deal  of 
harassing  from  the  light  artillery  and  cavalry  of  the  enemy. 

"  First  in  the  advance  on  the  march  through  Maryland  to  the  battlefield 
of  Antietam,  they  supported  Major-General  Hooker  at  South  Mountain,  and, 
two  days  after,  under  the  immediate  command  of  Major-General  Richardson, 
were  conspicuously  engaged  in  that  great  attack  which  compelled  the  enemy, 
defeated  and  humbled,  to  recross  the  Potomac. 

"  Since  then,  the  Brigade,  reinforced  by  the  HCth  Pa.  Vols.,  and  having 
the  2!)th  Mass.  Vols.,  replaced  by  the  28th  of  the  same  state,  took  part  of 
the  rn-onnoissance  of  Charlestown,  and  the  intervening  and  adjacent  country 
beyond  Boliver  Heights,  which  reconnaissance  was  so  brilliantly  and  success 
fully  conducted  by  Brigadier-General  Hancock,  commanding  the  division,  of 
which  this  Brigade  is  the  Second  Brigade. 

"In  the  subsequent  advance  to  the  Rappahanuock,  the  Brigade  was  fre 
quently  foremost;  and  on  the  evening  of  November  17th  had  the  honor  of 
being  ordered  by  Major-General  Sumuer  to  proceed  with  all  speed  up  the 
road,  ford  the  river,  and  take  the  guns  which  (  opposite  Falmouth )  had 


APPENDIX  25 


been  silenced  and    dismounted    by  the    splendid    battery   commanded    by  Cap 
tain   Petitt. 

"This  order,  however,  was  countermanded  half  an  hour  after  the  Brigade 
had  dashed  forward  with  the  gr.  atest  enthusiasm  to  execute  it,  it  being 
decided,  by  Major-General  Sunnier  that  it  would  be  imprudent  to  throw  any 
portion  of  the  army  over  the  Eappahannock  before  the  entire  force  was 
prepared  to  establish  itself  on  the  Fredericksburg  side  of  the  river. 

"The  records  of  the  Brigade,  thus  far,  close  with  the  day  on  which 
the  assault  was  made  on  the  enemy's  lines  and  batteries ;  and  all  his  re 
doubts  and  fortified  works  and  heights  iu  the  rear  of  Fredericksburg,  unless 
continued  picket  duty,  from  that  day  to  this,  may  be  considered  a  pro 
longation  of  the  record. 

"The  official  statistics  of  the  five  regiments  have  been  inserted  in  this 
application;  and,  if  I  do  not  greatly  err,  from  a  partiality  generated  by 
my  peculiar  relationship  with  the  Brigade  —  having  been  the  founder  of  it  — 
T  think  I  am  justified  in  affirming  that  no  Brigade  in  the  army  of  the 
United  States  has  more  assiduously,  unremittingly,  bravely,  nobly  done  its 
duty. 

"  Xo  history,  however  vividly  and  powerfully  written,  could  do  more 
than  these  plain  and  stern  statistics  do  in  attestation  of  the  cordial  loyalty 
and  devotion  unto  death  of  this  Brigade,  iu  the  good  and  glorious  cause 
in  which  it  staked  its  reputation,  which  is  dearer  to  it  than  the  blood  of 
the  bravest  soldiers  of  whom  it  is  composed. 

"Grounding  the  application  on  these  statistics  and  these  facts  —  repre 
senting,  as  they  unquestionably  do.  that  the  Brigade  has  ceased  to  be  a 
Brigade,  and  hardly  exhibits  the  numerical  strength  which  qualifies  it  for  a 
higher  designation  than  that  of  a  Colonel's  command  —  and  with  an  honest 
and  generous  view  of  the  still  greater  eilictency  of  the  military  power  of 
the  Government,  I  do  most  respectfully  and  earnestly  beg  that  the  three 
original  regiments  of  the  Brigade,  viz. :  the  69th  X.  Y.  Vols.,  88th  X.  Y. 
Vols.,  63d  X.  Y.  Vols.,  be  temporarily  relieved  from  duty  iu  the  field :  and, 
being  so  relieved,  have  the  opportunity  of  restoring,  in  some  serviceable 
measure,  their  exhausted  ranks. 

"As  long  as  these  regiments  are  retained  in  the  field,  the  undersigned 
is  convinced  that  no  accession  to  their  ranks  will  take  place ;  and  the  under 
signed  feels  that  it  is  unnecessary  for  him  to  enter  into  any  argument  or 
exposition  to  confirm  this  assertion. 

"  He  confines  himself  to  the  respectful  duty  of  directing  the  attention 
of  the  Secretary  of  War  to  the  fact,  that  decimated  regiments  from  Maine, 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  have  been  ordered  home,  so  as  to  enable 
them  to  return  actively  to  the  service  of  the  government  with  a  strength 
commensurate  with  their  reputation,  and  the  cause  iu  which  they  are  engaged. 

"  The  Brigadier-General  commanding  what  is  popularly  known  the  Irish 
Brigade,  asks  no  more  for  what  is  left  of  his  brave  officers  and  men  than 
that  which  has  been  conceded  to  other  commands,  exhibiting  equal  labors, 
equal  sacrifices,  and  equal  decimation. 

"In  doing  so,  he  does  violence  to  his  own  heart  and  nerve.  In  mak 
ing  and  urging  an  application  of  this  character,  any  man  of  soldierly 


23  APPENDIX. 


instinct  and  pride  must  feel  th.it  he  has  imputations  to  encounter,  \vliich 
tend  to  th-  damage  of  the  good  name  he  has  acquired  in  the  midst  of 
many  difficulties  and  dangers,  and  to  which  the  Brigade,  in  whose  behalf 
he  appeals,  has  with  so  liberal  a  gallantry  contributed. 

'•But  there  is  a  courage  sterner  still  than  that  which  faces  the  lire  of 
the  enemy.  Doing  your  duty  to  your  men  —  either  to  their  displeasure  or 
in  concurrence  with  their  wishes — oftentimes  demands  a  resolution  higher 
far  in  a  moral  estimation  than  that  which  the  orders  delivered  on  the  eve 
of  battle  exact. 

"  Such  do  I  feel  to  be  the  resolution  required  of  me  at  this  moment, 
in  forwarding  and  pressing  this  application.  We  are  in  front  of  the  enemy 
of  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  A  narrow  river  alone  divides  us. 
Any  moment  may  witness  —  any  accident  may  precipitate  a  collision  between 
the  two  armies.  With  this  possibility  before  us,  the  reluctance  with  which 
I  make  this  application  will  be  easily  conceived,  and  cannot  but  be  readily 
admitted. 

"  But,  as  I  have  already  more  than  estimated  the  reputation  of  the  Bri 
gade,  for  the  remnant  of  which  I  appeal,  is  too  vitally  identified  with  the  race 
which  it  represents,  aud  the  cause  to  which  it  has  devoted  its  fidelity  and  its 
life,  for  me,  as  the  official  guardian  of  it,  to  be  silent  —  to  refrain  from 
urging  such  a  request  as  I  do  now  —  when  to  be  silent  might,  and  would 
inevitably,  imperil  that  righteous  reputation. 

•'  I  have  alluded  to  considerations  of  public  and  national  interest  in  for 
warding  this  application. 

"  These  considerations  form  a  part  of  the  application,  which  I  do  not 
onceive  it  proper  or  essential  for  me  to  submit  at  large,  or  in  detail,  to 
the  Secretary  of  War,  and  shall,  therefore,  confine  myself,  as  I  do  con 
scientiously,  and  with  the  deepest  and  strongest  conviction  that  the  relief 
of  the  1st,  2d  and  3d  regiments  of  the  Brigade  from  duty  in  the  field, 
will  result  in  an  important  accession  to  their  ranks,  and  so  enable  the  Irish 
Brigade  to  render,  in  support  of  the  Constitution  and  the  legitimate  Chief 
Magistracy  of  the  United  States,  services  not  less  faithful  and  chivalrous 
than  those  they  have  already  permanently  imprinted  with  their  blood  upon 
the  national  records  of  this  war. 

"  1   Lave  the  honor  to   be  your  very  humble    and    obedient   servant, 
'•  With  the  greatest   esteem, 

•'THOMAS  FRANCIS   MEAGHKR, 
"Brig. -Gen.   commanding  the  Irish  Brigade." 

GENERAL  MEAGHER   TEN  DEES  HIS   RESIGNATION. 

"HEADQUARTERS  IRISH  BRIGADE,  Hancock's  Division,     "I 
Couch's   Corps,   Auny   of  the  Potomac,  Jlay  8,   lb(,3.  / 

•Major   John   Hancock    Assistant   Adjutant-General:  — 

"I  beg  most  respectfully  to  tender  you,  and  through  you  to  the 
proper  authorities,  my  resignation  as  Brigadier-General,  commanding  what 
was  once  known  as  the  Irish  Brigade.  That  Brigade  no  longer  exists. 


APPENDIX.  .  27 


The  assault  on  the  enemy's  works  on  the  13th  of  December  last  reduced  it 
to  something  less  than  a  minimum  regiment  of  infantry.  For  several  weeks 
it  remained  in  this  exhausted  condition.  Brave  fellows  from  the  convales 
cent  camp  and  from  the  sick  beds  at  home  gradually  reinforced  this  hand 
ful  of  devoted  men.  Nevertheless  it  failed  to  reach  the  strength  and 
proportions  of  anything  like  an  effective  regiment.  These  facts  I  repre 
sented  as  clearly  and  forcibly  as  it  was  in  my  power  to  do  in  a  memorial 
to  the  Secretary  of  War;  in  which  memorial  I  prayed  that  a  Brigade  which 
had  rendered  such  service  and  incurred  such  distressing  losses  should  be 
temporarily  relieved  from  duty  in  the  field,  so  as  to  give  it  time  and  oppor 
tunity  in  some  measure  to  renew  itself.  • 

u  The  memorial  was  in  vain.  It  never  was  even  acknowledged.  The 
depression  caused  by  this  ungenerous  and  inconsiderate  treatment  of  a  gal 
lant  remnant  of  a  Brigade  that  had  never  once  failed  to  do  its  duty  most 
liberally  and  heroically,  almost  unfitted  me  to  remain  in  command.  True, 
however,  to  those  who  had  been  true  to  me  —  true  to  a  position  which  I 
had  considered  sacred  under  the  circumstances  —  I  remained  with  what  was 
left  of  my  Brigade,  and,  though  feeling  that  it  was  to  a  sacrifice  rather 
than  to  a  victory  we  were  going,  I  accompanied  them,  and  led  them 
through  all  the  operations  required  of  them  at  Scott's  Mills  and  Chanccllors- 
ville,  beyond  the  Uappahannock. 

"  A  mere  handful,  my  command  did  its  duty  at  those  positions  with  a 
fidelity  and  resolution,  which  won  for  it  the  admiration  of  the  army.  It 
would  be  my  greatest  happiness,  as  it  would  surely  be  my  highest  honor, 
to  remain  in  the  companionship  and  charge  of  such  men;  but  to  do  so 
any  longer  would  be  to  perpetuate  a  public  deception,  in  which  the  hard-won 
honors  of  good  soldiers,  and  in  them  the  military  reputation  of  a  brave  old 
race  would  inevitably  be  involved  and  compromised.  I  cannot  be  a  party  to 
this  wrong.  My  heart,  my  conscience,  my  pride,  all  that  is  truthful,  man 
ful,  sincere  and  just  within  me,  forbid  it. 

''In  tendering  my  resignation,  however,  as  the  Brigadier-General  in  com 
mand  of  this  poor  vestige  and  relic  of  the  Irish  Brigade,  I  beg  sincerely  to 
assure  you  that  my  services,  in  any  capacity  that  can  prove  useful,  are  freely 
at  the  summons  and  disposition  of  the  Government  of  the  United  S  ates. 
That  the  Government,  and  the  cause,  and  the  liberty,  the  noble  memories, 
and  the  future  it  represents,  are  entitled  unquestionably  and  unequivocally 
to  the  life  of  every  citizen  who  has  sworn  allegiance  to  it,  and  partaken  of 
its  grand  protection. 

"But  while  I  offer  my  o\vn  life  to  sustain  this  good  Government,  I 
feel  it  to  be  my  first  duty  to  do  nothing  that  will  wantonly  imperil  the 
lives  of  others,  or,  what  would  be  still  more  grevious  and  irreparable, 
inflict  sorrow  and  humiliation  upon  a  race  who,  having  lost  almost  everything 
else,  find  in  their  character  for  courage  and  loyalty,  an  invaluable  gift, 
which  I.  for  one.  will  not  be  so  vain  or  selfish  as  to  endanger. 

"I  have  the  honor  to  be  most   respectfully   and  faithfully  yours, 

" THOMAS  FRANCIS  MKA<;HKR. 

"  Brigadier-General   Commanding." 


28 


APPENDIX. 


FAREWELL  ADDRESS   OF  THE   OFFICERS   OF  THE   69TH,   63o   AND 
88TH  REGIMENTS,    N.   Y.   S.  V.,   IRISH    BRIGADE. 

"  CAMP  OF  THE  IRISH  BRIGADE,  FIRST  DIVISION, 
2ND  ARMY  CORPS,  ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC, 
FALMOUTH,  VA.,  May  20th,  1863. 

"  To  Brigadier-General    Thomas  Francis  Meagher, 

Late   Commanding  Irish  Brigade : 

"  The  undersigned  officers  of  the  original  regiments  of  tthe  Irish  Brigade, 
in  the  field,  having  learned  with  deep  regret  that  you  have  been  compelled 
bv  reasons  of  paramount  importance  to  tender  your  resignation  as  General 
of  the  Brigade,  and  that  the  Government  having  accepted  your  resignation, 
you  are  about  to  separate  yourself  from  us,  desire  in  this  manner,  as  the 
most  emphatic  and  courteous,  to  express  to  you  the  sorrow  we  personally 
feel  at  your  departure,  and  the  sincere  and  heartfelt  affection  we  entertain, 
and  shall  ever  entertain  for  you  under  all  circumstances,  and  changes  of 
time  and  place. 

"  We  regard  you,  General,  as  the  originator  of  the  Irish  Brigade  in  the 
service  of  the  United  States,  \ve  know  that  to  your  influence  and  energy, 
the  success  which  it  earned  during  its  organization  is  mainly  due;  we  have 
seen  you  since  it  first  took  the  field  —  some  eighteen  months  since  —  sharing 
its  perils  and  hardships  on  the  battle-field  and  in  the  bivouac :  always  at 
your  post,  always  inspiring  your  command  with  that  courage  and  devotion 
which  has  made  the  Brigade  historical,  and  by  word  and  example  cheering 
us  on,  when  fatigue  and  dangers  beset  our  path,  and  we  would  be  ungrate 
ful,  indeed,  did  we  forget  that  whatever  glory  we  have  obtained  in  many 
a  hard-fought  field,  and  whatever  honor  we  may  have  been  privileged  to 
shed  on  the  sacred  land  of  our  nativity,  that  to  you,  General,  is  due  to  a 
great  extent,  our  success  and  our  triumph. 

"  In  resigning  the  command  of  the  remnant  of  the  Brigade,  and  going 
back  to  private  life  in  obedience  to  the  truest  dictates  of  honor  and  con 
science,  rest  assured,  General,  that  you  take  with  you  the  confidence  and 
affection  of  every  man  in  our  regiments,  as  well  as  the  esteem  and  love  of 
the  officers  of  your  late  command. 

'•With  this  sincere  assurance,  we  are,  General,  your  Countrymen  and 
Companions  in  Arms. 


P.  Kelly,   Colonel, 
R.   C.   Bently,  Leiut.-Colonel, 
James  E.   McGee,   Captain., 
Wm.   J.   Nagle,   Captain, 
James   Saunders,    Captain, 
John   Smith,   Major, 
P.   J.    Condon,   Captain, 
John  H.   Donovan,   Captain, 
Richard  Moroney,   Captain, 


88th  New  York,   Irish  Brigade. 
Commanding  (53rd  New   York. 
Commanding  69th  New  York. 
Commanding  88th  New  York. 
69th  New  York. 
83rd  New  York. 
63rd  New  York,   Company  Q. 
69th  New  York. 
69th  New  York. 


APPENDIX. 


29 


John  H.   Gk'ason,   Captain, 
M.  W.  Wall.  Capt.  and  A.  A.  A.  G., 
Thomas  Twohy,    Captain. 
John  J.   Blake.   Captain, 
Eobert  H.   Millikeu,   Captain, 
Garrett  Nagle,   Captain, 
John  Dwyer,   Captain, 
Michael  Gallagher,   Captain, 
Lawrence  Eeynolds,   Surgeon, 
James  J.  Parcel!,  Assistant  Surgeon, 
Chas.   Smart.    Assistant   Surgeon, 
Bit-hard  P.   Moore,   Captain, 
John   C.   Foley,   Adjutant, 
John  W.   Byron,   1st  L:eutenant, 
D.  F.  Sullivan,  1st  Lieut,  and  II.  Q.  M., 
Jas.  J.  McCormack,  Lieut  and  Quart'r. 
John  O'Neill,  Lieutenant, 
Wm.   McClellan,   2nd  Lieutenant, 
John    Madigari,   Lieutenant. 
James  J.  Smith,  1st  Lieut,  and  Acljt. 
Edmund  B.   Nagle.   2nd  Lieutenant, 
Miles  McDonald,  1st  Lieut,  and  Ad,,t., 
John  J.  Hurley,  1st  Lieutenant, 
Ed\v.   B.   Carroll,   2nd  Lieutenant, 
James   Gallagher,   2nd  Lieutenant, 
John  Eyan,   1st  Lieutenant, 
Matthew   Hart,   2nd  Lieutenant, 
Bernard   S.   O'Neil,   1st  Lieutenant, 
John  Dillon   Mulhall,   1st   Lieut.. 
Matthew  Murphy,   1st  Lieutenant, 
Luke  Brennau,   1st  Lieutenant, 
Eobert  Latfin,   2nd   Lieutenant, 
W.   L.   D.   O'Grady,   2nd   Lieutenant, 
P.   J.   O'Connor,   1st  Lieutenant, 
Edward  Lee,   1st  Lieutenant, 
Patrick  Maher,    1st  Lieutenant, 
David   Burk,   Lieutenant, 
Martin   Scully,   1st  Lieutenant,       -* 
.Richard  A.   Kelly,   1st  Lieutenant, 
Joseph  M.   Burns,   Lieutenant, 
James  E.   Byrne,   Lieutenant, 
Dominick    Connolly,   2nd  Lieutenant, 
John  J.   Sellers,   2nd  Lieutenant, 
William   Quirk,   Captain, 
Patrick  Chamber,    1st  Lieutenant, 
Patrick    Callaghan;   1st  Lieutenant, 
Patrick   Eyder,   Captain, 
Patrick    M.   Haverty,   1st   Lieut,   and 
E.   Q.   M., 


63rd  New  York,   Company  B. 

Irish  Brigade. 

63rd  New   York,   Company  I. 

Co.   B.,   88th  New    York. 

69th  New   York. 

69th  New  York. 

63rd  New  York. 

88th  New   York. 

63rd  New  (York. 

63rd  New  York. 

63rd  New  York. 

63rd  New  York,    Company  A. 

88th  New   York. 

88th  New  York,    Company  E. 

69th  New   York. 

63rd  New  York. 

88th  New  York. 

88th  New  York,    Company   G. 

88th  New  York. 

69th  New   York. 

88th  New   York,    Company  D. 

63rd  New  York. 

63rd  New   York,   Company   I. 

63rd  New  York,    Company    15. 

63rd  New  York,   Company   F. 

63rd  New  York,   Company   G. 

63rd  New  York,    Company  K. 

69th  New  York. 

69th  New  York. 

69th  New   York. 

69th  New  York. 

69th  New  York. 

88th  New   York,   Company  II. 

63rd  New  York,    Company  E. 

63rd   New   York,    Company    A. 

63 i-d  New    York,    Company   G. 

69th  New  York. 

69th  New   York. 

69th  New    York. 

69th  New  York. 

88th  New  New. 

63rd   New   York,   Company  II. 

63rd  New   York. 

63rd  New  York,   Company  E. 

63rd   New   York,   Company   H. 

69th   New   York,   Co  mpaiiy  Gr. 

88th  New   York. 

88th  New  York. 


SO  APPENDIX.  . 

NON-COMMISSIONED    OFFICERS    OF    THE    SSxn    REGIMENT    TO    GEN 
ERAL    MEAGIIER. 

"CAMP    OF    THE    88TH    N.  Y.  S.  V.,  } 
May    21st.    1803.  ] 

"  To   Brigadier-General    Thomas   F.    Meat/her: 

"  Beloved  General  —  Seldom,  if  ever,  has  a  more  mournful  duty  devolved 
on  a  soldier  than  now  devolves  on  a  few  of  that  devoted  baud  of  Irish 
men  that  rallied  at  your  call  around  the  Green  Flag  of  our  native  land, 
and  who  are  here  now  to  evince  their  sincere  and  heartfelt  sorrow  at  the 
loss  of  our  indomitable  leader,  a  brave  companion,  and  a  stern  patriot,  as 
well  as  to  extend  their  congratulations  at  your  returning  in  all  your  manly 
pride  and  spotless  integrity,  to  the  domestic  scenes  of  your  own  tire-side. 

"Appreciating  as  we  do  the  motives  that  actuated  your  resignation, 
nevertheless,  we  feel  that  whatever  the  advantages  may  accrue  to  us.  if 
any,  are  purchased  at  too  great  a  cost,  and  tells  deeply  the  feelings  and 
relations  that  existed  between  the  General  an  I  his  im-n. 

'•The  first  to  lead  us  to  victory,  we  fondly  hoped  it  would  be  your 
proudest  honor,  as  it  was  your  highest  ambition,  to  lead  us  back  again  to 
our  homes,  but  through  the  inscrutable  wisdom  of  an  all-wise  AVar  Depart 
ment  it  will  be  reserved  for  you  instead  to  welcome  back  what  has  been, 
or  will  be  left,  of  what  was  once  known,  and  proudly  so,  as  Meagher's 
Irish  Brigade." 

"Present  to  our  lady  patron,  Mrs.  Meagher,  our  happiest  congratula 
tions,  at  your  safe  return;  and  assure  her,  through  us.  that  what  is  left  of 
the  88th  will  still  endeavor  to  hold,  by  a  high  soldierlj-  bearing,  that  claim 
on  her  affections  as  of  old,  when  you,  yourself,  led  us  to  battle. 

"In  conclusion,  General,  we  tender  yon  the  following  resolutions,  and, 
believe  us,  they  are  not  the  stilish  offerings  of-  interested  followers,  nor  the 
cool,  well  digested,  and  can  fully  worde  1  productions  of  sage  .  and  matured 
veterans,  but  they  are,  General,  the  spontaneous  ofie  ings  of  young  heads, 
young  hearts,  and  young  blood,  that  will  always  rally  at  your  call  around 
that  Flag  for  which  you  have  sacrificed  so  much  and  braved  so  many  dan 
gers;  and  trusting,  General,  that  the  recollections  of  this  meeting  will  in 
after  years  compensate  for  many  days  of  wearied  toil  and  profitless  liard- 
ships,  it  is,  therefore 

"  liesolvttl — That  we,  the  non-commissioned  officers  of  the  88th  Regiment, 
N.  Y.  S.  V.,  duly  authori/ed  and  appointed  in  behalf  of  the  regiment, 
express  in  words  too  feeble  to  convey  their  sorrow,  their  regret,  at  the 
retirement  of  their  General,  Thomas  Francis  Meagher. 

"  Resolved  —  That  in  tendering  his  resignation  he  was  prompted  by  the 
highest  chivalric  principles  and  uus<  Ithh  aims,  and  cons-equeutly  meets  the 
approbation  of  his  men. 

"  Resolved  —  That  the  foregoing  resolutions  and  address  be  presented  by 
a  committee  of  the  non-commissioned  officers  of  the  88th  Regiment,  N.  Y.  S.  V. 

Signed    on   behalf   of   the   Regiment : 
Patrick   McCabe,    Sergeant-Major.  John   Desmond,   Sergeant,  Company  C. 


APPENDIX. 


31 


Thomas   Smith.  Quartermaster-Surgeon, 

Richard  E.  Dowdall,  Hospital-Steward. 

John  McDonnell,  Commissary-Sergeant, 

William   J.   O'Connor,    1st   Sergeant, 
Company  A. 

Richard    Finnan,     1st    Serg  aut,    Com 
pany   B. 

Benedict    J.   O'Driscoll,    1st    Sergeant, 
Company   C. 

R.   McDonald,   1st    Sergeant,    Company 
D. 

George    Ford,    1st   Sergeant,    Company 
E. 

James  Carr,  1st  Sergeant,  Company  F. 

Lawrence  Buckley,   Isc  Sergeant,  Com 
pany   G. 

John   Meighan,  1st  Sergeant,  Company 
II. 

Michael  McGrane,   1st   Sergeant,    Com 
pany  I. 

Henry   Southwell,    1st   Sergeant,    Com 
pany   K. 


Richard  S.  Harrison,  Sergeant,  Com 
pany  C. 

James   Fox,   Sergeant,   Company   C. 

Patrick  O'Neill,  Sergeant,   Company  B 

George  Geoghegau,  Sergeant,  Com 
pany  B. 

Hugh   (  urry,    Sergeant,    Company   K. 

Timothy  J.  Murray,  Sergeant,  Com 
pany  I. 

Dennis  Leonard,  Sergeant,  Company  I. 

Thomas  McDonald,  Sorgeant,  Com 
pany  1. 

John  McGowan,  Sergeant,  Company 
D. 

John  B.  Sparks,  Sergeant,  Company 
A. 

Joseph  Hyland,  Sergeant,  Company 
E. 

Edward  Wilson,  Sergeant,  Company 
E. 

John  Morton,   Sergeant,    <  ompany  E. 

Thomas   Hair,    Sergeant,    Company  E. 


RESOLUTIONS    OF    THE     OFFICE1.S    OF    THE    11GTH    REGIMENT    PEN- 
SYLVAN1A    VOLUNTEERS,    IRISH    BRIGADE. 

"HEADQUARTERS    llGxn    PENNSYLVANIA    VOLUN- 
TEBKS,  ImsH  BKIGADE,  HANCOCK'S    DIVISION, 

SECOND  AUMY  COUPS,  May  13th,  1863. 

"  At  a  meeting  of  the  commissioned  officers  of  the  116th  Pensylvania 
Volunteers,  Major  St.  Clair  A.  Mulhollaml.  was  called  to  the  Chair,  and 
1st  Lieutenant  Louis  J.  Sacrist ie  was  appointed  Secretary.  The  following 
preamble  and  resolutions  were  proposed  and  unanimously  adopted : 

"  Whereas  —  By  the  acceptance  of  the  resignation  of  our  beloved  General, 
Thomas  Frances  Meagher,  we  have  been  deprived  of  one  who  was  always 
solicitous  for  our  comfort  and  welfare.  Therefore,  be  it 

"  E? 'solved  —  That  by  the  resignation  of  Brigadier  General  Meagher,  this 
Brigade,  and  especially  this  Regiment,  experiences  an  irreparable  loss  —  one 
which  is  felt  alike  by  oilicers  and  men;  we  have  been  deprived  of  a  leader 
whom  we  all  would  have  followed  to  death,  if  necessary;  a  leader  whose 
name  was  sufficient  to  strike  terror  into  the  hearts  of  his  foes,  and  admira 
tion  into  the  hearts  of  his  co-patriots  in  arms. 

"  Rrsnlvpfl  —  That  in  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties  lie  exhibited  alike 
those  qualities  which  only  a  true  soldier  can  possess  —  when  on  duty  a 
strict  disciplinarian,  when  oft"  duty  an  allable,  agreeable,  and  kind  companion. 


32  APPENDIX. 


"  Resolved  —  That  as  a  soldier  he  was  foremost  in  the  battle,  offering  his 
life  as  a  sacrifice  for  the  cause  of  Liberty  and  the  Constitution  of  his  adopted 
country  —  which  country  has  lost,  by  his  resignation,  one  of  its  most  patri 
otic  Generals,  one  of  its  most  daring  soldiers,  and  the  army  one  of  its 
brightest  ornaments. . 

"  Resolved  —  That  in  his  retirement  to  civil  life  he  carries  with  him  our 
most  sincere  wishes  for  his  future  welfare,  and  we  earnestly  hope  that  his 
future  life  may  be  as  successful  as  his  past  career  has  been  brilliant  and 
honorable. 

St.   Clair  A.   Mulholland,  Major,    commanding    116th  Pennsylvania  Volunteers. 

John  Teed,   Captain,   commanding   Company  G,   116th  Pennsylvania  Volunteers. 

S.  G.  Willinar,  Captain,  commanding  Company  A,  116th  Pennsylvania  Vol 
unteers. 

Garrett  Xowlin,  Captain,  commanding  Company  B,  116th  Pennsylvania  Vol 
unteers. 

Louis  J.  Sacriste,  1st  Lieutenant,  commanding  Company  D,  116th  Pennsyl 
vania  Volunteers. 

Richard  H.  Wade,  Lieutenant  and  Quartermaster,  116th  Pennsylvania  Vol 
unteers. 

H.  O.  Price,  1st  Lieutenant  and  Acting  Adjutant,  116th  Pennsylvania  Volun 
teers. 

Francis   Crawford,    1st-  Lieutenant,   116th  Pennsylvania  Volunteers 

George  Boeder.   1st  Lieutenant,    Company  A,    116th    Pennsylvania  Volunteers. 

Wm.    B.    Ilartman,   Assistant-Surgeon,    116th   Pennsylvania   Volunteers. 

Wm.   H.   Tyrrell,    2d  Lieutenant,    Company   C,    116th  Pennsylvania  Volunteers. 

George  Halpin,    2d  Lieutenant,     Company    A,   116th   Pennsylvania    Volunteers. 

Thos.   Me  Night,   2d  Lieutenant,    Company    B,   116th    Pennsylvania  Volunteers. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT    BY    BRIGADIER -GENERAL    THOMAS    FRANCIS 
MEAGHER,    OF    THE    NEW    COLORS. 

Presented  to  the  Irish   Bridade  in   the  Army  of    the  Potomac  by  the 
follovxiug  American-born   Citizens  of  New.   York: 

HENRY  F.  SPAULDING,  SAMUEL  D.  BABCOCK,  HENRY  A.  SMYTIIE, 

JAMES  T.  SWIFT,  AGUSTUS  CLEVELAND,  HUGH  N.  CAMP, 

SIIKPKRD  KNAPP,  BENJAMIN  C.  TOWNSEND,  A.  VAN  NEST, 

THOMAS  F.  YOUNGS,  WILLIAM  H.  HAYES,  A.  M.  YOUNG, 

NEWTON  CAUPENTER,  N.  SULLIVAN,  EDWARD  FULLER, 

WALTER  VAIL,  THOMAS  CUTHBERT,  M.  FURMAN  HUNT, 

CHARLES  N.  FEARING,  1*.  G.  WEAVER,  GEORGE  E.  COLLINS, 

MARTIN  BATES,  HENRY  E.  LAWRENCE,  GEORGE  G.  KKLLOG, 

JOHN  H.  MORTIMER,  LEVI  P.  MORTON,  B.  HURXTHAU 

JOSEPH  A.  SI'RAGUE,  LUKE  W.  THOMAS,  LEWIS  BALLARD, 

GEORGE  BLISS,  HENRY  E.  CLAIIK,  ISAAC  P.  MARTIN, 

CHARLES  F.  LIVERMORE. 


APPENDIX.  33 


NEW  YORK,  February  5th,  1863. 
MY  DKAR  Sm  : 

"  1  am  sure  you  have  not  ascribed  to  a  want  of  courtesy,  still  less  to 
a  rude  indiilereiiee,  the  delay  with  which  I  gratefully  acknowledge  the  Stand 
of  Colors  you  have,  in  coujuction  with  many  of  the  most  valued  and  inllu- 
ential  Citizens  of  New  York,  presented  to  the  Irish  Brigade. 

"Many  duties  of  an  official  character,  many  private  engagements  of  a 
character  hardly  less  urgent,  have  up  to  this  late  moment  compelled  me  to 
defer  the  duty  it  is  now  my  happy  privilege  to  discharge. 

"  The  colors  reached  the  Brigade  the  evening  after  the  assault  of  the 
Federal  forces  on  the  fortified  heights  behind  Fredericksburg.  Many  a  brave 
officer  —  many  a  brave  soldier  —  who  had  proudly  looked  forward  to  the  hour 
of  their  arrival  lay  dead  in  his  frozen  blood  that  evening  on  the  battle-field, 
denied  for  ever  the  satisfaction  he  had  glowingly  cherished  in  anticipation. 

"Their  comrade?  received  the  colors  with  pride,  with  gratefulness,  with 
the  loftiest  enthusiasm. 

"In  the  very  heart  of  the  city  of  Fredericksburg  —  under  the  fiercest 
play  of  shot  and  shell  from  the  rifle-pits  and  batteries  of  the  enemy  —  the 
General,  commanding  the  Brigade,  displayed  them  to  the  remnant  of  his 
command,  as  the  splendid  tributes  which  native-born  Americans  —  men  of  the 
highest  private  worth  and  widely-acknowledged  civic  and  social  consequence 
—  had  awarded  to  the  Irish  Brigade  for  the  guod  service  it  had  rendered 
in  the  great  cause  of  the  Constitution  and  the  Chief-Magistracy  of  the 
American  Union. 

"Federal  officers  of  brilliant  reputation  and  superior  rank  —  most  of 
them  American-born  citi/ens  —  witnessed  by  invitation  the  presentation  of 
these  Colors,  and  heartily  shared  the  sentiments  and  emotions  inspired  by 
the  occasion,  whilst  at  the  same  time,  they  did  the  officers  of  the  Brigade 
the  honor  to  sit  down  at  the  table  —  which  had  been  spread  in  the  Theatre 
of  the  tire-swept  city  —  to  commemmorate  the  liberality  and  patriotism  which 
suggested  those  tributes,  and  then  so  gracefully  and  grandly  bestowed  them. 

"The  Commandants  of  the  IJcgiments  to  which  these  Colors  had  been 
presented,  having  gratefully  acknowledged  them,  declined  with  a  soldierly 
bearing  —  the  steruess  of  which  was  softened  by  a  delicate  courteousness  of 
tone  and  a  noble  sorrowfulness  —  to  receive  aud  cany  them  ;  stating  that 
their  numbers  had  been  so  reduced,  they  could  not  in  conscience  undertake, 
to  defend  with  honor,  treasures  that  were,  and  ever  should  be,  iuiinit  ly 
dearer  to  them  than  there  lives. 

"On  my  departure,  shortly  afterwards,  to  New  York  —  in  compliance 
with  the  injunction  of  every  officer  and  soldier  of  the  Brigade  —  1  brought 
back  the  Colors  which  had  been  sent  to  replace  those  old  and  illustrious 
ones,  which,  flying  defiantly  in  the  face  of  the  enemy  on  no  less  than  ten 
momentous  battle-fields,  had  never  once  been  grasped,  eveu  for  uii  instant, 
by  any  other  than  a  friendly  hand. 

"  These  beauteous  and  sumptuous  new  Colors  remain  in  New  York,  until 
the  Irish  Brigade,  reinforced  as  it  should  be,  shall  have  the  power  to  carry 
and  defend  them,  as  the  two  Countries  and  the  cause  they  symbolize,  with 


34  APPENDIX. 


the  most   sacred   influences   and  a  supreme   authority  demand    they   should    be 
borne   and   guarded. 

"  Such  is,  so  far,  the  history  of  these  Colors.  Brief  though  it  be,  the 
record  is  full  of  interest,  includes  one  of  the  most  memorable  events  and 
scenes  of  the  war,  and  discloses  fully,  with  a  singular  emphasis  and  eil'ect. 
the  devotion  of  the  Irish  Brigade  to  the  legitimate  purpose  for  which  it 
was  called  forth. 

"  With  a  singular  emphasis  and  eil'ect,  I  say,  this  little  history  discloses 
this  great  devotion.  For  never  before,  1  believe,  did  brave  and  proud  soldiers 
decline  to  carry  new  Colors,  being  forced  to  such  an  act  of  abnegation  by 
the  consciousness  that  deatli  had  dealt  with  them  so  mercilessly,  under  their 
old  Colors,  as  to  render  that  act  one  of  conscience  and  religious  obligation. 

"Having  written  this  much,  nothing  remains  for  me,  my  Dear  Sir,  but 
to  assure  you  that,  whilst  a  soldier  of  the  Irish  Brigade  survives,  your  name, 
as  one  of  those  muniticent  friends  from  whom  he  received  his  new  Colors, 
shall,  as  a  golden  thread,  be  ever  interwoven  with  his  memories  of  the  warfare 
in  which  he  has  been  engaged :  a  warfare  in  which  nothing  but  his  clearly- 
worded  oath  of  Citizenship,  and  a  grateful  sense  of  what  his  Eace  on  this 
Continent  owe  to  the  grand  soul  of  the  Founders  of  the  .Republic,  and  to 
the  all-benilicent  wisdom  of  its  Constitution,  could  have  indTiced  or  prevailed 
on  him  to  engage.  Be  assured,  moreover,  that  whilst  this  Constitution 
survives  all  violations,  to  demand  for  its  stately. purity  a  defender —  whilst 
this  Kepublic,  as  Washington  inaugurated  and  Andrew  Jackson  continued  it, 
demands  for  its  salvation  a  strong  arm  and  a  devoted  heart,  even  unto 
death  —  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  shall  fail  to  find  a  Champion  whilst 
there  lives  a  soldier  of  the  Irish  Brigade. 

'•  With  sincere  assurances,  and  with  the  most  grateful  regard,  I  remain, 
rny  Dear  Sir,  faithfully  and  cordially  your  friend, 

THOMAS    FKANC1S    MEAGHEK. 
To  HENRY  F.  SPAULUING,  ESQ. 


IN  the  work  of  preparing  that  portion  of  this  Memoir  appertaining  to 
General  Meagher's  American  career,  I  have  received  incalculable  assistance 
and  sympathetic  encouragement  from  Mus.  GKNKRAL  MKAGHKR  —  who  kindly 
placed  at  my  disposal  an  invaluable  collection  of  private  and  official  docu 
ments,  in  print  and  MSS.,  which  I  have  utilized  to  the  best  of  my  judgment, 
and  for  which  I  tender  that  estimable  lady  my  most  grateful  acknowledg 
ments  and  sincere  thanks. 

M.   C. 


INDEX. 


A. 

A  change  of  base, 

A  distinguished  Franco- Irishman. 

Address  to  the  French  people. 

Address  of  the  medical  students  of 
Dublin. 

Antisel,  Dr.,  Thomas,  . 

An  eventful  week  in  the  Irish  capi 
tal, 

An  unconventional  introduction, 

An  effective  object  lesson, 

A  poetical  tour, 

Astley.  Mr.. 

B. 

Barricades,  in  the  city  of, 
Battle  of  Fair  Oaks,     . 

Of  Antietam, 

Of  Frederiekshurg. 

Of  Chancellorsville. 
Beauregard,  Gen., 
Birney,  Michael, 
Brennan,  Mr..     . 
British  blackguardism. 
Browne,  Col.,     . 
Bull  Kim  campaign, 

c. 

Oappoquin, 
Carrick-on-Suir, 

Scenes  in,    .  .  . 

Cavanagh,  Major,         '. 
Castle  Garden  July  ii7,  1852,    . 
Chartists,  English. 
Clear  field  and  no  favor,          . 
Closing  scenes,  . 
Clongowes,         .  . 

Clontari'  meeting, 


PAGE 

PACK 

Condon,  Thomas  W.,     . 

45 

.       51 

Conciliation  Hall. 

38 

123 

Confederation,  council  of, 

206 

.  101 

Constitutional  conspirators,    . 

196 

Constitutional  warfare, 

116 

.  130 

Cork,  and  its  environs, 

45 

.  130 

Corcoran,  Col.  Michael,            .      370. 

388 

Fort,  construction  of. 

380 

.  no 

"     reminiscences  of, 

386 

.  117 

Crimean  war,  and  the  hopes  it  in 

.  137 

spired,  .... 

344 

.     43 

"  Croppies  lie  down,"  . 

145 

.  145 

Curry,  Francis, 

96 

Cur  ran,  John  A., 

115 

D. 

.  119 

.  443 

Davis,  Thomas, 

33 

.  458 

Death  of  ,     . 

46 

.  463 

Davis,  Francis, 

45 

.  483 

Death  feast,  the, 

471 

.  390 

Dillon,  John  15..             .            .        33, 

116 

.  141 

Discussing  the  situation, 

81 

.  143 

Doheny.  Michael,          .            74,  224, 

230 

.  158 

Doyle,  James, 

151 

.  137 

Dublin  club-men,  the. 

128 

.  388 

Dublin,  during  the  state  trials, 

37 

Dublin  voices  the  national  sentiment, 

100 

Duffy,  Charles  Gavan,                        33 

.  81 

Dully,  C.  G.,  arrest  of. 

218 

.    44 

Duffy,  John, 

147 

.  263 

.  264 

E. 

.  440 

English,  Andrew, 

84 

.  158 

Esmonde,  Dr.,    . 

139 

.  332 

F. 

.  299 

.     17 

Fair  Oaks  to  Malvern  Hill,     . 

448 

36 

Famine,  the, 

76 

30 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Felon,  the           .            .  .  .190 

Finnerty,  Peter,            .  .  143,  148 
First  flag-raising  over  battlements 

in  Virginia,      .  .  .  382 

Fitzgerald,  Edward,  Loru,  .  .  142 

ib  Flag,  the  starry,''  song.  .  .  383 

Following  the  leader,  .  .  .  253 

Frazer,  John  J.,             .  .  .    45 

French  revolution,  the,  .  .    97 


Gaynor.  Patrick, 


G. 


H. 


Habeas  Corpus,  suspension  of  .  240 

Hancock,  General,        .            .  .  467 

Hardy,  Mr 145 

Heain,  Capt,,  John  D.,            .  .  494 

Hughes.  Archbishop.    .            .  .  388 

Address    over  Terence   Bellew 

MeManus,         .            .  .419 

Hyland,  David,              .            .  .  137 

I. 

Irish  confederation,      .            .  .76 

Ireland,  R.  D.,    .             .            .  .115 

Irish  Felon,  the,            .            .  .  215 

Irish  tribune,     .            .            .  .215 

Irish  welcome,  an.        .            .  .  302 

Irish  News,  publication  of.     .  .  346 
Irish   soldiers,  how  they  prepared 

for  battle,        .            .  .  387 

Irish  Brigade,  departuieof.  .  .  425 

At  Fair  Oaks,          .          '.  .432 

Casualties  of,          .            .  .  462 

Irish  Rifles,  37ch  N.  Y.  V.,      .  .  441 


Jesuits,  Christmas  with,  .  .     28 

Johnson,  Rev.  William,  .  .    29 

K. 

Kenyon,  Father  John,  .  .    99 

Kirwin,  tne  spy,           .  .  '        .137 


L. 


Lane,  John,        .  .  .  .  121 

Lee,  Gen.  R.  E..  testimony,     .  .  470 

Leonard,  John  P.,        .  121,  123,  124 

M. 

Magrath,  Dan,  .  .  .111,  283 

Martin,  John,  .  .         74,  242 

Martin,  John,  tribute  to  his  memory,  216 

Mathew,  Father,           .            .  .     33 

McMahon,  Marshal,      .            .  .  123 

MeManus,  Funeral,       .            .  .  416 

McGee,  Thomas  Parcy,           .  .     84 

McNevin,  Thomas,       .            .  .41 

Meeting  the  leader,      .            .  .  316 

Meagher,  Thomas  F.,  genealogy  of,  9 

Arrest  of,    .             .             .  .  224 

As  a  journalist,      .            .  .  342 
A  Fenian,    ....  361 

and  Shiel,    .            .            .  .24 

Closing  scenes,       .            .  .  493 

Entry  into  public  life,       .  .     46 
Eradication  of  the  Irish  brogue.      29 

Escape  from  Australia.    .  .  306 

First  political  speech,       .  .     35 

First  unconstitutional  speech,  .  104 

His  American  wife,       "   .  .  345 

Irish  Zouaves,        .            .  .  379 

Impressions  of  France.     .  .  160 

In  Conciliation  hall,          .  .     47 

In  New  York,        .            .  .448 

Incidents  of  visit,               .  •  451 

In  Stoneyhurst,     .  .     27 

In  America,            .  •  309 

In  the  South,  .  338 

In  M  em  or  i  am,        .  •  495 

In  Paris,     .            .  •  123 

In  Tennessee,        .            •  •  ^^ 

Lust  public  speech  in  Dublin.  .  228 

Last  days  in  Ireland,         .  .  295 

Leaving  home,        .  .     15 

Lectures  on  Australia,      .  .  335 

Life  in  Australia,  .  .  301 

Memoirs  of  forty-eight,    .  .  245 

Of  the  sword,         .            .  .33 


37 


Meagher,  Thomas,  Francis. 

On  the  policy  of  the  repeal  as 
sociation,  .  .  .48 
On  Mitchell.  .  •  209 
On  McManus,  .  .  .  304 
Oration  on  Gen.  Corcoran.  .  .'550 
Parentage  and  birth,  .  .12 
Presentation  to,  .  .  .  474 
Presentation  of  the  Kearney 

cross,   .  .  ...  488 

Recollections  of,   .  .  .  125 

Response  to  America's  welcome.  319 
Speech    on    resolutions   on   the 

Irish  confederation.  .  .     85 

Speech  at  Waterford.  Feb.  10th, 

1848,      .  .  .  .91 

Speech,  March  22,  1848,    .  .118 

Speech  on  Slievenamon.    .  .  238 

Speranza  on,  .  .  -70 

Sword  speech,        .  .  .     59 

Takes  command  of  the  G9th.        .  391 

Travels  in  Central  America,        .  347 

Trial  of,       ....  291 

Twentieth  birthday,         .  .     35 

Mitchell,  Henrietta,     .  .  .  123 

Mitchell,  John,      47,  53.  81.  135,  198,  202 

Morgan.  Francis,          '.  .  .115 

Moran,  Michael,  .  .  .  256 

Mulley,  Father,  .  9.    44 

N. 


National  League,  the, 
National  Press,  the,     . 
Ninety-fight,  Recollections  of, 


o. 

O'Brien,  W.  Smith,.      .  .   .      38,  40 

Debates  on  resolutions,  81,  150, 

243,  348 

O'Conuell,  Daniel,         .  .   35,  37,  55 

O'Connell,  Maurice,       .  .         39,  40 

O'Conuell,  John.  .  .  .56 

O'Connell,  Daniel.  Junr.,         .  .    5( 

O'Connor,  Arthur,        .  .  .  143 

O'Douahue,  P.,  .  .  115 


J'Doherty,  Kevin  I/od, 

Arrest  of,     . 

Trial  and  conviction, 
3'Eire  macroidhe  ta  m'  intinn  ort, 

song,      . 

TFlaherty,  Martin, 
TFlanagan,  Thomas,  . 
VGorman,  Richard. 
)'Hagan,  John, 
O'Mahony.  John. 
O'Reilly,  Eugene, 
Orangemen  hostile, 
)vertures  for  re-union, 

P. 


130 
219 

220 


.  408 

.       115,  122 
.       142,  147 
43,  53.  494 
.  115 

130,  265,  370,  493 
84,  123 
.  145 
.  212 


Pigott,  John  A.,  .  .  .84 

Personal  observations.      .  .  110 

Penalty  of  patriotism.       .  .  288 

Pike  making,  .  .  .137 

Press,  newspaper,  .  .  143 

Protestant    repeal    association, 

the,        ....  214 

R. 

Resolutions  of  the  Irish  confedera 
tion,  .  .  .  .76 
Recollections  of  '98,  .  .  .  142 
Regimental  duel,  .  .  .  450 
Reilly,  Thomas  Devin,  .  .  84,  115 
Revival  of  an  old  Irish  industry,  .  132 
Robinson.  Hon.  W.  E  ,  .  .  427 


s. 

Sampson,  Councillor, 
Savage,  John,     . 
Scraps  of  history, 
Secession,  the,     . 


.  148 

130,  383 

.  191 

24,  56 


Immediate  consequences  of,  .    67 

From,  to   the  formation  of  the 

Irish  confederation,  .  .     73 

Sheehan,  Rev.  John,    .  .  .26 

Sheil,  Richard  L ,          .  .  .43 

Shields,  Geu ,     .           .  .  .425 

Sirr,  Major,        .            .  .  .  145 


38 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

PAGE 

Sixty-ninth,  departure  of,       . 

.  373 

The  United  Irish  cluh. 

.  121 

in  Virginia, 

.  380 

The  young  patriot  leader, 

.     71 

in  advance. 

.  391 

Timon,  Bishop, 

.  388 

under  (ire,     . 

.  393 

Tone,  Theobald  Wolfe, 

.     99 

casualties  at  Bull-run, 

.  403 

Traitors  and  spies  in  Washington 

.     .  389 

return  of,     . 

.  40G 

Treason  felony  bill, 

.  150 

festival, 

.  413 

Trials,  the, 

.  290 

Slievenamon  meeting,  . 

.  230 

Smith,  Patrick  .T., 

.    43 

u. 

Smith,  John, 

,  13!) 

Smith,  Uichard, 

.  141 

Unite.1  Irishman,  the.  . 

.     99 

Speranza,  on  Meagher, 

.     70 

United  Irish  club,  the, 

.  121 

"  Sprigs  of  green," 

.  400 

State  prisoners,  farewell  address 

of 

the,    .... 

.  298 

. 

Stoneyhurst,  Theatricals  at,    . 

.     28 

Stritch,  Andrew  R., 

.  ICO 

Veterans  of  "'98,  " 

.  139 

Stockdale,  John, 

.  148 

Sullivan,  T.  1)., 

.  123 

w. 

Sullivan,  Donald, 

.  149 

Ward,  Robert,    . 

111,  283 

War  for  the  Union,  opening  of, 

.  367 

T: 

Watterson,  Henry,        .        .    . 

.  385 

Watson,  J.  B  ,    . 

.  115 

Taaffe,  Charles, 

.  115 

Waterford  election,  the, 

89,  277 

Taking  the  field 

.  245- 

West,  Dr., 

.  115 

The  aggregate  meeting, 

.  113 

Welpley,  Captain  Frank, 

149,  408 

The  French  revolution, 

.     97 

Whit  worth,  Mr., 

.  143 

The  famine, 

.     70 

Williams,  Richard  Dalton. 

.  130 

The  Irish  confederation, 

.     76 

His  career  in  America, 

.  221 

The  secession,    . 

.     56 

His  death,    . 

.  221 

The  United  Irishman, 

.     98 

Williams,  John, 

.  115 

*%a% 


0 

202 


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